#she loves her dad who it’s revealed turned out to be everything she despises

[wrightandco]

franziska is a teenager who loses her dad, then loses her brother, then travels to america and loses her perfect record to the same guy who she blames for the loss of her brother

she’s burdened by the cognitive dissonance of pushing forward with loyalty to her upbringing when it has led to her ideals of perfection crumbling around her all at once and she literally has to deal with that all alone

[yaut-jaknowit]

Male Yautja with Single Mom Human who got pregnant with Her Ex-Husband who Later Left Her and had Twin Sons and They Both Probably Calling Yautja "Dad" Even though They're not Biological But It's Still Family to Him (Sorry,If It's Not Suitable for Your Fics or/and Headcanons then That's Still Fine) also Will be Platonic at First Then Fluff Romantic,I Think?

Blood in the Water

Pairing: T'a'yta (male Yautja) x AFAB/Mother!Reader

Word Count: 5367

Summary: T’a’yta happens to be around and sees the struggle of this mother. He reveals himself and the mother grows uncertain about him and nearly attacks him. He takes no offense and offers to take her and her children to their home. From there, she offers T’a’yta a chance to swing by at a later time to her house to show her appreciation.

Author Note: Anything really goes with my stories. I write what the people want. I love doing that. I wasn't able to fully finish this to the end of your ask, I hope that's okay. It is about ten pages long so there is plenty to read! To be honest, I love this idea. Though there has been a lot of asks like this of late. What's going on guys?

Masterlist

Ao3

The worn engine sputtered and clunked. It gave one last screech before it fell silent. The forward momentum kept it rolling for a football field length before coming to a halt. Now dead in the water, you attempted to turn the key in hopes it would turn back over. It didn’t even give a cry at the try. You cursed under your breath and glanced in the rear-view mirror.

Two toddlers happily kicked their feet, entertained by the outside world of rolling plains. One of your sons, Shawn, whined when the movement of the hills were stopped. “Mama!” he called to you and pointed to the outside world.

“Yes, I know, baby boy. Mom’s gotta fix the car and we’ll be back on the road,” you answered and pulled your phone out to call for help.

At the top of the screen, it read no bars. You cursed to yourself again. A bad habit you needed to stop but have yet to do so.

The second son, the eldest by eighteen minutes, whined and shook his empty bottle in your direction. Simon looked at you with pleading eyes. You unbuckled and turned around in your seat. Both of your children were oblivious to what was happening. A simple road trip to see your folks on a surprise visit was going terribly wrong. Clearly.

It took you less than two minutes to fill up his sippy cup with more water to hold him over for now. You patted each child’s knee and gave them a look. “Okay, I need you two to be good. Mama’s going to get out and see what’s wrong with the car, okay?” Both of them looked at you with little thoughts between their innocent eyes.

With a sigh, you slipped out and popped the hood. Off the top of everything, you couldn’t see what was wrong to have this happen in the middle of the nowhere. Not a build or car in sight. Then your phone, no service to call for help. Anyone to drag your beat up car to a mechanic. It’ll cost you leg but at least your car would be working.

After your divorce with your husband, everything has gone downhill from there. The love you once saw in his eyes disappeared during the pregnancy… The man you once loved faded after you gave birth to his children.

He despised how big you grew, especially with twins. Let alone, yes, the mood swings and cravings. Pickles and peanut butter weren’t health but you needed to have them or you’ll start to cry. Not your proudest moment.

The stretch marks. He was absolutely disgusted with them and refused to touch you, even to help bathe when you couldn’t. You had just been spilt in half to birth two children he wanted and your own husband wouldn’t look at you. That hurt. A lot.

You leaned over the engine bay and sucked in your tears at the flashbacks when your life fell apart. You wouldn’t be stuck in this position if it wasn’t for him. It was all his fault.

Nothing flashed to easily fix the issue. You gave a sigh and returned to the drivers seat. All you needed was this day off to sleep in and relax. Except, the world continued to drag you to the deepest pits of hell to suffer.

In the mirror, you smiled with love sparkling in your eyes. Despite everything that has happened over a year ago, you wouldn’t trade the world for those two boys. They are your world, in all honesty. Both of your children went back to entertaining each other with the toys you’ve brought. Doing this for a year and half, you learn a thing or two.

This situation didn’t give you much for options. You looked around the car to see if that could help because you were truly clueless. If it was just you, you could start the long walk to find cell service. Yet with the twins in the back, all you could do was stay and hope for help. Hopefully help does come or you’ll be in deep trouble once night comes. Or the heat that’s starting to build up inside the car.

In a last-ditch attempt, you turned the keys for your car. As much as you wanted to hope for it to suddenly roar back to life, it stayed silent and dead where it had come to rest. Why did this have to happen to you, right here, in the middle of absolutely nowhere?

The driver side door was open to let in a breeze as you checked your phone again. Just the same reaction to your run-down car. Useless.

While the time ticked on by, your sons grew restless, strapped safely in the car. They whined to get out since the car had been stopped for some time. With no sign of rescue in sight, you slipped out of the car and got into the back seat. Both of them reached for you as you unbuckled them from their restraints.

Shawn was the first to be released and stood on weak legs. His twin brother came to his side and gazed out into the hilly plains that surrounded the three of you. Simon tightly clutched his cup as he wobbled away from you. A close eye was placed on the boy while he sought to explore his surroundings.

On the other hand, Shawn stayed at you lowered form and clutched to your hand. When his brother got to far from him though, he left your side to follow him.

All the hairs on back of your neck stood up. You straighten your spine and scanned the surrounding lands for any sight of a possible other person or animal. Yet, there was nothing to be seen this far out. Nor did anything move and catch your attention. The feeling refused to leave and stuck to you like cold honey.

As the feeling dragged on, your heartbeat increase with each passing second. You could hear it, thundering in your ears. You were already moving towards your two exploring children when you hear clicking. Instantly, you snatched your twin sons up and backed towards the car.

Your back hit met with warmth. Live warmth rather than the steel of a car. You spun around, hands occupied by holding Shawn and Simon at the same time. Nothing immediately caught your attention, and that made the dread brewing in your stomach to worsen. It burned you from the inside out as you tried to plan either an escape or to fight whatever threatened you.

When the light caught something in front of you, you truly peered at what could be blocking your path. You gasped and stumbled back, nearly tumbling over your own big feet. Something was standing in front of you, almost invisible to the naked eye. It was when you didn’t even know to look for it.

Tiny hands clutched at your clothing due to your reaction. Shawn was the first to bury his face into your chest to seek protection. Yet, Simon wiggled and squirmed in a way that made it hard to hold him. You couldn’t even look down to give him the famous mom stare to get him to stop it. “Simon, stop moving!” you ordered the eldest twin, but he didn’t take your tone seriously.

Before you could drop him, he slid down your side to the ground. You snatched his wrist before he could run off to gods knows where. The young boy struggled against your firm grip. “Simon, I swear!” But he refused to listen even when you sent the stare directly at him.

It hurt you to do this but this was a dangerous moment. You roughly tugged on Simon’s hand and dragged him away from the camouflaged creature before you. He screamed in frustration and started to hit your hand. “I am your mother! Listen to me, goddamnit.” At a later time, you would hold him close and apologize for your harshness. Yet, with an unknown threat hanging before your sons, you acted in instinct to protect them.

Simon glared his own tiny daggers at you and clawed at your tight grasp. A bruise could appear later but right now, when you didn’t know was standing in front of you. There were a lot more important things to fret about than a bruise.

Like from a comic book or sci-fi movie, a humanoid form waxed into appearance. All the muscles that lined your back tensed. A cold dread entered your fiery veins and froze you to the spot. Simon was able to escape ran up. You stared in terror and gripped onto Shawn, unable to react in time.

The figure sat down on its haunches, still a towering form, and tilted its head at the bouncing child. His exploration side flaring its head at the worst time possible.

Your heart thundered in your ears, roaring like a storm brewing in the middle of the sea. Simon reached it on wobbly legs and flopped onto the thick thighs of this ‘person’. You couldn’t tell what it was.

A metal mask covered its facial features, leaving you blind to what laid behind. Primitive armor of sorts covered the most important parts of a human. Relatively close to a fishnet like wire covered its body starting from the neck and down to its legs. It was ripped in some areas, clearly used and worn. Worn for what? And… and why was it wear stripper clothing?

Out of your children, Simon had to be the people person. He hugged onto this things leg like a lifeline and giggled his cute little laugh. Any other situation, you would’ve smiled at him and laughed alongside him. You clutched Shawn tighter to your side and watched with bated breath for this thing to do something.

The masked person reached out and offered a massive, scaly hand to Simon. The young child ‘oo’ed at the sight, immediately drawn to the different skin texture than his own.

Shawn began to squirm in your hold. You whipped your head to gaze at him. He made grabby hands towards his twin brother and the humanoid creature. The hairs along your arms bristled. “Absolutely not!” you scolded and returned your gaze on the two.

The incredible size difference didn’t seem to effect this being. Instead, it looked like they took it into great consideration and was soft with the way it moved towards him. Simon latched onto the offered limb and brought it up to his face for a close examination. With a bout of excitement, he spun around and thrusted the hand into the air. “Mommy look!” he cheered as if he had found gold.

A great amount of weight lifted off of your shoulders. You nervously laughed with an unsure smile. “That’s great honey. Now, come over here, please,” you demanded rather than ask Simon to listen to you for this once. Yes, it seemed like the thing humanoid wouldn’t hurt a hair on Simon. You refused to let your guard down for one millisecond. Life lessons and all that fun stuff.

Simon started to pull on the hand, tipped with short yet lethal claws. Talons that could gut you or your children if you did one wrong move.

What had you gotten yourself into? A day vacation turning worse with every passing second.

You watched with a fragile gaze, on the verge of breaking if it moved for an attack. Parental instinct and all that would damn you in this situation. If this creature turned, you couldn’t do a thing to stop it. Not with the way it held itself. Not pride… no. But with an air that consisted that it knew what it was doing.

It followed after Simon, letting him guide it over to you. The entire time, hunched over to allow constant contact with the older twin. Simon stopped in front of you and offered the hand to you; to check it out yourself. “No… no honey,” you refused and shook your head kindly. “I’m all good. I-I can see.” You cursed the slip up stutter in your words. Not like it couldn’t read the terror shining in your eyes, or the realization this creature could kill you at any second.

“Mama, take. Look.” Stubborn as a mule, a trait the two of them got from both of their parents. Shawn squirmed in your hold again and finally slipped down. On his feet, he stepped up to the masked figure and wrapped his arms around one of its legs.

Then, a glint entered Simon’s innocent eyes. The older one latched onto the other leg and looked up at the imposing figure who stood at least a good head taller, if not two.

“Kids,” you called to them but didn’t gain their attention. “Simon, Shawn. Let go. We… we need to get going.”

“Mister, what you are?” Shawn asked and tugged on a long piece of cloth tied to the waistband of the figure’s pants. You were growing frustrated at the lack of obedience in such a dire situation from your children. If you were to survive this, you were going to have a long sit-down with them and ensure they knew the consequences of not listening. Especially when their life could be in danger.

Worst of all, you couldn’t even plan a way to attack this lumbering giant. The thing was massive not just in height but in stature as well. The barrel chest, large muscles that adorned its arms and legs. You didn’t dare even take a step towards it. Not when it could see you as a threat and leave you a bloodied mess for your sons to witness.

“You better listen to your dam,” a voice that easily matched the body spoke in a tone that left little room for arguing. Yet, it wasn’t to threaten or cause any issues with you. Not, he seemed to be attempting to help you in this situation. Then, he tilted his head up and looked at you with emotionless dark pits. “I’m not going to harm them.”

As much as you prayed for those words to be completely truthful without doubt, you still kept your guard up.

“But, I know how dams can be. Protective over their littles.” The more it spoke, the more you realized it wasn’t an average person’s voice you were hearing. It sounded a bit gruff, rough around the edges, as if it wasn’t a language he was meant to speak. He rose his arms in surrender and offered his palms towards you. “I extend a helping hand instead to show I do not have intentions of harm towards your family unit.”

You straightened yourself and set a glare on the masked beast. “Who and what are you?” you demanded and possibly pushed your luck with his declaration earlier. Before you can offer him a single once of your trust, he must be willing to fork over ten times of yours worth.

He settled back down on his haunches and allowed for you to take the tallest title for the time being. Simon and Shawn were forced to move and practically thrown themselves onto his thighs. “What are you?!” Shawn interrogated their newfound friend. Worse than the monster friend in their closet that freaks you out every time they talk about it.

He’s able to pull himself onto one of the beast’s thighs with his help. Shawn sits unsteadily and pointed at the metal mask adorning his strange friend’s face.

The entire time the creature interacts with your children; the way he’s extremely gentle, slow movements; the way he gets down to their level; the way he doesn’t mind them climbing on him… he must be a father himself or knows great patience. You only let your shoulders slack a centimeter.

Still on his haunches, he tilted his head up slightly to gaze at you once more. Without saying a word, his hands come to the mask and go through a worn routine of disengaging it. Muscle memory detached the metal from his face.

Your head jerked back yet you didn’t make a sound. That wasn’t what you were expecting. Then, you blinked a few times. This thing wasn’t anything on earth. No, not with the way if just appeared out of thin air and the facial structures. “You’re an alien, aren’t you?” you questioned, breaking the quiet air that filled the space.

What you believed to be an alien smirk graced his features. One of his strange four fangs rose into a grin. A knowing glint entered his baby blue eyes. “A smart dam,” he mused and bowed his head in a slow motion. “Yes, you caught me. I am an alien in your terms.”

“Alien?” Simon questioned and turned his head to look at you. “Mama, what is alien?” On the other leg, Shawn had spun around with the careful guide of the creature and leaned into his torso.

“An alien is a species that comes from space, not native to our planet,” you explained, hopeful the terms were small enough for either of them to understand. Then, you returned a hardened gaze the alien. “Do you have a name?” Again, you wanted to know what was possible before even entertaining the idea of accepting whatever help he thought was right for the situation.

He lifted his head back up. “T’a’yta and yours?” he returned the gesture in full warmth. The longer he talked with you, the more you grew to be lax around him. Not by much but enough to loosen the tension growing in your muscles.

It was soft on your lips, your name. He tested it on his alien tongue then gave each child a gentle shove off. They whined but were given no choice besides off. Shawn came back to your side and held onto your leg in the same manner he did to T’a’yta.

“And what is this help you offered in the beginning?” you asked afterwards. The cedar-colored alien returned to his full height but a respectful distance away from you.

His head turned towards the crappy car that had started all of this. “I see your mode of transportation has failed you. I have one of my own. I couldn’t bare to turn a blind eye to a dam in trouble. I would like to offer you a ride back to your home,” T’a’yta explained and glanced over your shoulder.

Your expression softened at his confession, eyes flickering down at your children. They had to be getting hungry. The snacks you brought probably won’t last longer than an hour. There was night as well. Darkness would soon swallow you and your family up… and you didn’t know how long it would be before help arrived.

Despite him not showing any signs of harm, you still eyed the creature with suspicion. “And what do you want in return?” you retorted and gave him a hardened stare. You had found aliens exist yet you didn’t know if this one was completely friendly. Who knows what it might do to you if you put your guard down?

T’a’yta snorted and shook his bowed head. “I do not want anything as payment. I’m not doing this to except something in return.” A person with years of patience built under his belt. He didn’t act offended by your question and simply answered it. He didn’t give you any reasons for doubt. “If you wish not for my help, then I accept that. But I will not leave until you and your little ones are safe.”

If only your ex-husband was as thoughtful as a random alien willing to protect you out of nowhere.

The decision came quick to you. You nodded your head towards T’a’yta. “Alright. I’ll accept your offer… Thank you.” T’a’yta smiled at you then motioned his hand for you to turn around. You quirked a brow before slowly listening to him and spinning on your heel. The alien moved around you, your children in tow as they followed the coolest thing they’ll ever see in their lives. You smiled to yourself at the sight shadowed after T’a’yta.

He led you about a hundred yards from the road before coming to a stop. Confused, you paused as well and waited for him to reveal why he had taken you this far from the road.

Unease boiled in your stomach. You eyed the alien with a weary eye all over again yet kept your trap shut in case something you said could turn him.

One hand pressed two buttons on his metal gauntlet. In a similar fashion of how he waxed into existence, a spaceship appeared before your very eyes. This was very Stars Wars like. Your jaw dropped as you stared upon this craft and alienness it had.

A hiss sounded from the metal ship before a ramp began to lower from the belly. It felt like you had been transported into some sci-fi movie.

You were pulled from your shock by a tug on your leg. Shawn stood at your feet and put his arms up for you lift him. Muscle memory had you bending down and scooping him off of the ground. He looped his arms around your neck then looked over at T’a’yta. You walked over to the alien and stood shoulder to bicep with him. “I can’t believe aliens are real,” you whispered the confession.

T’a’yta snorted and shook his head. The weird rubbery, round bands that hung from his domed head snaked with the movement. Metal trinkets adorned the dreads and clinked against one another. “Oomans and their lack of thoughts. Aliens have always existed. There’s always something out there in the big, expansive universe. Not even I know what all lies out there and I’m over five hundred years old in ooman years.” As he spoke all of this, he began to stroll over to the ramp and leading the group. You followed along, hooked into everything all despite the possible danger.

At his last few words, you stopped mid-step with a bewildered expression falling upon your features. “Five hundred?! Five hundred?” you sputtered and blinked a few times to comprehend all of this. Not that you knew what an old whatever his species is looked like, he didn’t even act like someone even hitting thirty.

“Again: lack of thoughts. You will never be alone out there. Life finds a way.” He reached the top of the ramp and motioned for you to keep up. Even Simon was able to run after him with that cute little toddler run and looked back at you.

“Stop being slow, mama. Keep up!” Simon scolded with a childish scowl and held onto T’a’yta’s leg. The cedar brown alien bent at the waist and patted the top of your son’s head.

Simon let a grin spread across his face and leaned up into the affection. You sighed and strolled up the ramp after them.

The new sight of the inside of an alien spaceship washed over you. Yet, it was surprisingly subtle in here. There was detail in here but mostly simple designs. Just a vehicle for transportation or something who didn’t need much to be happy.

Once you had entered along with them, T’a’yta pressed the same two buttons again. The ramp hissed again and began to close. T’a’yta motioned with a jerk of his head to follow after him and started to walk further into the ship. You took a deep breath and listened to him with just a hint of apprehension in the moment. The door to the outside world was now closed, locking you in here with him.

Through three doors, he took you to what had to be the cockpit of his ship. Out in the distance, was a tiny white dot on the road. Your car.

“I would advise you to take a seat during takeoff,” T’a’yta expressed and sat down on a seat that easily fit his larger complex. His hands moved with muscle memory as they went over the console, typing and pressing the proper buttons. You listened to the engines fire up underneath your feet before stepping up to a chair that you knew would swallow you up.

You sat down and held Shawn close to you. Simon was still at T’a’yta’s feet and held onto his knee. With a sigh, you patted your leg. “Simon, come here,” you called to your other son.

T’a’yta easily scooped the child off of the ground and held him in one arm close to him. “It’s alright. You’ve got your hands full with the one. I can watch over this one.”

At first, you apprehensive about letting him hold Simon. Yet, you pushed down the helicopter mom instinct inside of you and slowed your heart down.

The ship rumbled while T’a’yta added power to the engines. They started to lift the vessel off of the ground and further into the air. You gripped onto the chair and held Shawn close. Being in a plane was completely different than this. You held your breath, tense as you felt the craft lift off even more.

“Now, where to?” he questioned with an ease voice, soothe. Your eyes cracked open without realizing they had been shut and glanced over at him. T’a’yta cradled Simon close to him while letting the child have room to wiggle if he so pleases.

An address tumbled out of your lips. T’a’yta let his fingers glide across a screen and hit enter. His hand fell away from the controls. The giant alien swiveled around in his chair to face you.

“In all my years, I’ve never once crashed any of my ships. I promise you with my heart you and your offspring are safe in my hands.” His words helped ease a little tension sitting on your shoulders. “You are free to move about as well. Take-off can be a little unpredictable in some cases.”

He easily picked up Simon and set him back on ship’s floor. Said child began to explore his newfound surroundings with vigor. To ease the tension settling in your bones, you nervously smiled at T’a’yta. “You know, Simon is a huge explorer. He’s gonna find something he shouldn’t probably be in.”

Two of his upper mandibles quirked up. “Sounds like me when I was kid and I turned out fine,” he jestered and motioned towards himself. You huffed through your nose. The alien was scared and armored, ready to take on an army at a moment’s notice. Now, that you were thinking about. He probably could take on the army.

Shawn shifted and slid off of his lap. “And there goes Shawn. Wherever Simon goes, Shawn loves to follow him,” you said to the quiet air and watched as the two went over to the controls.

Even to you, the controls sat higher than you thought was comfortable to use. You knew they wouldn’t be able to reach them.

“They are twins, yes?” T’a’yta asked and leaned back in his chair, lax in his position. From the corner of your eyes, you glanced at him. Despite the terrifying creature he looked like, he showed nothing but peace. You reclined in your chair and brought your legs to sit comfortably in the large seat.

.

The ship lightly shuttered at the touch down. Both of your kids whined but otherwise stayed silent in your arms. T’a’yta moved from his seat and stalked over to your seat. With a tired look in your eyes, you looked up at him and gave a weak smile at him. The days events had dragged away what energy you had left. T’a’yta nearly talked you into sleep. Your sons have already dozed off at least an hour ago.

His towering form stood before you. “I can carry them for you,” he offered in a voice no louder than a breath. The smile only grew on your features. You timidly nodded your head. T’a’yta easily scooped both of them out of your lap and cradled them close to him. A move only an experienced father would know and be able to do after so many times.

You untucked yourself from the seat and stood up, arms stretched high above your head. Little thought was given to follow the large mass as he moved through his own ship. He kept a pace you would be able to shadow easily in your tired state.

In all of its run-down glory, your apartment complex greeted you. With a sigh, you pulled your keys from your pocket and found the proper key. This time, you guided T’a’yta to the third level and towards a door you’ve grown to learn after a year and half of living here. You kept an eye on the alien’s gaze but it didn’t change one bit. Either, he was amazing at steeling his expressions or he truly didn’t judge the conditions of your living. It was the best you could supply on one income.

The inside of your apartment hadn’t changed one bit over the course of twenty four hours. You breathed in its familiar scent, relieved to be home. You glanced back at T’a’yta who had to duck to enter your dwelling. Both of your sons are still cradled in each of his arms. A soft smile was brought to your face at the sight. You walked over to their shared room. “Over here,” you whispered into the silent air.

T’a’yta entered and set both children down in a bed. It didn’t matter which one. The two of you exited the bedroom for the living room and sealed the door behind you.

With just him in your presence, you could feel a little more at ease. You didn’t need to worry about your children getting harmed in anyway around him.

“Thank you… for everything. I’d still be out there right now,” you voice your appreciation to the alien. T’a’yta stood a respectful distance away from you and yours bedroom door.

He bowed his head. “I’m glad to be of assistance.”

Now, a silence fell over the two of you. You gnawed on your bottom lip, words on the tip of your tongue. When he dipped his head and went to turn away, you sprung forward and gripped his arm. His skin was warm the touch and rough underneath you softer fingertips. Instantly, you jerked your hand away, hoping you hadn’t offended him.

“Do-don’t go… I-“ you cleared your throat and had to look away when he turned to you. “I would like to offer you a chance for dinner. As a thank you. I would cook you dinner. Or-or, you’re more than welcome to come back at, at anytime.” You were on the verge of face palming at your stupidity and nonsense you sputtered to him.

The alien chuckled, shoulders jumping with the sound. “I told you. There is no need for repayment. I did this out of the kindness of my heart.” You gave him a pleading look. You didn’t want this to be the last time you saw him.

“I know this. Please, just entertain my stupid idea.” T’a’yta looked at you for a long time before shrugging. Your face brightened with a smile, toothy and all.

“Alright. I shall return into three days. Is that enough time for you to plan this dinner?” he questioned.

You rapidly nodded your head. “Plenty. Thank you, thank you. Again. I-I just want to ease my consciousness. I wouldn’t be able to sleep peacefully knowing I’d done anything to thank you.”

“Of course. I will see you in three days’ time.” T’a’yta took his leave then. The door softly clicked behind his retreating form.

A new silence engulfed you. You turned around and faced the door your children were in. They were safe because of T’a’yta. An alien. He was nice. Much nicer than a lot of folks you’ve met and he was an alien. An alien who looked like he could crush your skull with two fingers. You took a deep breath in before heading to your own room. It had been a long day.

[artsandstoriesandstuff]

Before I get started I should specify what the Piper James series is. It was first intended to be a satirical (not critical, necessarily) look at the hero and villain genre, that slowly delved into the deeper themes and effects of the plot on the characters and a look into the characters themselves. If I were to sum up the genre I'd say it's a "satire superhero (dark) comedy"? I don't know.

With that out of the way...

Piper James Episodes (And Episode Revisions) Part 1 - Season 1

The season that started it all. Lots of the episodes have either unclear or weird things about them, so a lot of them have been revised. Enjoy!

Episode One (Pilot) (Case: Shady-Spa/Case: Perfect-Picnic): "During a surprise break, Piper visits the spa Sandra picked up a job at, only for them both to realize it’s a trap by CHAOS/Piper wants a peaceful picnic “date” with Sandra, while an angry T20 tries to sabotage their plan using a giant...robot...ant."

Significance: This was the debut of Piper James. Otherwise, pretty boring.

Episode Two (Case: T20-is-Good?*/Case: Brooke-is-Broke-(Again)): T20 gets hit by a big book and begins acting like a regular person/Later, Brooke, the porcelain girl, gets hit by someone’s car, shatters, and needs help.

Revision: T20 was never a kind person, so acting like a regular person was more fitting.

Significance: This version foreshadows the change in T20’s personality.

Episode Three (Case: Carnival-Jester/Case: Mascot): Piper and the gang, while at an amusement park, encounter a crazy jester woman who was sent by CHAOS, but despises Piper for different reasons/Piper notices kids are turning into puppets after encountering the park’s mascot, Manny the Bug.

Significance: The first of the backstory drops comes from Satire the Jester.

Episode 4 (Case: Jones/Case: T20’s-Story): Piper discovers a journal belonging to Jones, the last member of the secret organization, and is inspired to start his own/Piper talks to T20 after finding him upset, and listening to his story about how he became a villain.

Significance: This is where the series takes a shift from the wackiness of the first few episodes.

Episode 5 (Case:-Shut/Case: Musical-Retelling): After Piper discovers something about him, T20 tries to shoot him with one of his inventions, but it backfires/Piper wakes up one day and sees everyone is singing, which soon pushes him to solve the problem.

Significance: It introduces T20’s habit of falling in love with tough women. Trixie is, however, older than him, so it isn’t really right. Maybe I could hint at his crush on Sandra instead? I'd have to change the ending, though.

Also, this is the last time the “Case: Episode/Episode” format is used.

Episode 6 (The Chaotic T20, Trixie, and Bea Episode): In the special, Piper finds an old photograph of someone who looks like T20. T20, upset that he found this, works on a device to separate him from his past, on the day Trixie’s best friend Bea plans to visit. To try and cheer T20 up, she disguises herself as Bea but finds there are multiple T20s in his room. Bea comes over to find Trixie dressed as her...chaos ensues.

Significance: Not only does it secretly reveal a new character, but it’s also the episode T20 realizes something is off about being a villain. Bonus, it’s the last time Trixie disguises.

Episode Seven (The Musical?): Piper James’ unfinished comic as a musical. Self explanatory.

Significance: I’m unsure about this one, as it was never finished. But it did point out inconsistencies in the original story. I don’t think it’s important to the main story, though.

Episode Eight (Villainz): Piper decides to join T20 and Trixie’s antics, so Sandra and Doug look for someone to fill his place. While Piper, T20, and Trixie make chaos (literally), the others meet Harold, who seems to know everything about everything...including CHAOS.

Significance: Seemingly starts T20’s development.

Revision: T20’s dad never went “missing”. He wasn’t even a part of it. Instead, having Harold know about CHAOS (and T20’s mom) is more fitting.

Episode 9 (Therapist): Piper tries to seek therapy from the old T20...he is very not helpful.

Significance: Foreshadows Peter’s hatred of T20?

Episode 10 (Little Scouts)*: Piper James and co go to a campsite, where a southern girl (Killer Whale) and some nerd (Sharkfin) were bored to kidnap them (for money).

Significance: None. This episode is...not that important. It is fun though.

Revision: T20’s mom is more likely to kidnap her son than actually kill him.

Episode 11 (Lovey-Dovers)*: A Cupid that has been hired tries to destroy “evidence” that T20 is finding about himself. Piper tries to intervene, but instead gets hit by a love arrow. In fact, everyone has been hit by one...besides Sandra. So she, Piper, and T20 must find a way to get the evidence back, and turn everyone back.

Revision: Similar to in episode five, T20 having a crush on Trixie is not good. It would, however, it’d be funny if T20 fell in love with his hero adversary Sandra. And Trixie’s now out of town, I guess.

Significance: More information about T20 is learned. Also, the Chaos Crystal is some Chaos BS.

Episode 12 (Mairy Jaine (Mary Jane))*: After being hired by You-Know-Who, Mary attempts to bring Piper and co down, but recognizes T20 and joins them instead. She reveals that she and T20 were old friends, but drifted apart. She also reveals she now has a villainous side to her too, Mairy. But is this really true?

Revision: The original episode was incredibly painful to dissect, so I made it more fitting for the both of them. Also, I'm thinking maybe Mairy simply exists as a villain persona of Mary as to try and impress T20? It makes sense.

Significance: Marissa’s first appearance. And, T20’s name is actually Tyler!

Episode 13 (Video Gamer (I forgot the name)*): You-Know-Who hires a video game developer named Kai to trap Piper and co in a video game, but the game is surprisingly horrific for T20...

Revision: In this version, the video game better resembles what happened to T20. Also, Ray is Kai’s younger brother, and is actually the one to save Piper and friends.

Significance: Secretly shows what happened to Tyler for the first time.

Episode 14 (In-Depth Look (MAJOR REVISION)): The gang works with Marissa to study more about what happened to Tyler (T20), but T20 gets kidnapped in the midst of it. So Piper and friends decide to take a nice walk in the park, when they realize that something about the city is starting to feel...off.

Revision: The Chaos Crystal doesn’t make much sense in the modern series, so it’s been dropped entirely. Also, Tyler getting kidnapped better transitions into the finale.

Significance: Last episode before the finale!

Episode 15 (Season One Finale): In the season one finale, T20’s mom (who had been the Frenchman this whole time?!?!) is making sure he has luxury (as a villain), explaining the changes in the city, when T20 just wants a regular life. Piper James takes the initiative to save him.

Significance: The finale. Also, T20 has a really epic monologue and pushes his mother off a [short] cliff.

This marks the first change in Tyler’s personality.

Piper James gets a little bit of development too?

That's all for part 1! I will link part 2 here when I finish it... let me know what you think so far!!! :)

Edit: PART 2!!!

Edit: tagging @papercutzo and @frayedcircus since they may possibly be interested! :)

[phantomoftheorpheum]

I’m not sure if I’m the only one, but I just? Genuinely hated the finale.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s always nice to see who the killer is at the end and the big reveal and to finally get some damn answers. But like.

The fuck????

Okay, let me start from the beginning.

Summer school.

ya know? For it being summer school, you sure know what they don’t actually show a lot? Yeah. Summer school. I think the entirety of them spent there could literally be under five minutes. Which is? Kinda pathetic considering that was supposed to be like the entire damn theme of this season.

LOL get yonked, I genuinely laughed when it was revealed they did disastrously worse on their tests and they’re so shocked about it. Like ‘Wow! Who knew meant going to summer school means we actually have to learn things and do assignments and turn in homework! It’s almost like it’s school- oh wait!’

Lordy the way I fucking hate Jen with an eternal passion. I’ve literally never hated a gay character in my life but she is literally cross bounding my boundaries to light an eternal pyre of hatred. Like she’s actually sociopathic at this point. She gets Noa to cheat on her boyfriend with her. Lies to her. Manipulates her. Literally fucking STEALS AND ROBS from Shawn. Ya know after he literally gave her 2000 dollars to bail HER ASS out of jail. The audacity. The entitlement. The way every decision from her is more morally corrupt one after another. I genuinely despise her character more then anyone. And for her to suggest Tabby and Imogens boyfriends was so damn random. Like. Girl you have a criminal record longer than A’s victim list. Maybe they should take a double look at YOU! You literal PSYCHO.

Noa actually being a hypocritical bitch and accusing both their partners when hers is literally the most sus. Lol and turns out it was NONE?! Of the partners. Insane. Actually crazy.

Damn Imogen. Honestly you’re low key a red flag 😭. I felt so bad for Johnny when they found out he was innocent. Like imogen literally gave him massive cerebral trauma and left him for DEAD.

Also also. I fucking HATE plot holes. But how the FUCK were those bodies in their for weeks on end and no one saw them??? If Johnny wasn’t in on it how did they even get in there?!!!? It’s not like Wes or Mrs. Langsberry even worked there. Also??? You telling me after weeks they never did restock? Never needed to refil a single bucket of ice cream? All imogen has to do was move ONE bucket to see the body. They didn’t even hide them well. Theirs some giant ass cavern of space behind a wall of poorly placed ice cream.

WHAT was the entire point of Imogens plot line with her dad??? It had to relation to the story. And why the fuck was Rebecca even introduced 😭. 0 reason.

I’m also confused how the fuck they managed to plant the Davie mask in Christians house. Like. Does he not have parents??? How did they just casually break and enter into the house. Their would be 0 reason for either of them to visit. Were they all just master breaking and enterers? Come on they can’t have all taken lessons from Jen!

Speaking of her. WHAT WAS THE DAMN POINT???? Noa screwed Shawn over so bad and I actually hate who she’s become. And it’s disgusting the writers are trying to frame is as okay because it’s gay 🏳️‍🌈✨! Like NO! We love representation yes but NOT at the expense of manipulation, literal mental abuse, mass stealing, mass property damage. Threatening someone’s fucking life. CHEATING. At this point I honestly feel like it could even in a way somewhat qualify as r*pe. Noa literally used Shawn for money, housing and Sex. KNOWING that she wasn’t in love with him and was actively cheating on him (while lying and pretending to let him think she loved him). So maybe not in a way. They both technically consented. BUT that consent was explicitly taken under false pretenses and lies. You better know Shawn would not have had sex if he knew literally everything Noa was doing and lying about.

Like. It’s a horrible double standard. Because if a Man did this to a women you know people would be all over it. Like for a show that’s so amazing in showing r*pe and surviving and dealing with it and how women have to go through things like this all the time. You’d think they would have given a shit when the same horrible things happen to men.

Also literally what was the entire point of Noa and Jen’s relationship. The only thing that came out of it was Jen teaching Noa to Hotwire a car. (Which like. I swear to god this show is trying to glorify breaking the law like that. Like your telling me the ONLY WAY they could have gotten to the church fast enough was through hijacking another persons car 😭. What about ASH?! Who was dropped from this episode like a damn hot potato. Mouse could have called him and you bet he would have sped up as soon as damn possible to drive them!!!)

Also so random. But like. These girls are all sophomores right? How do they all know how to drive?! How do they all have their license? You only took drivers ed in like sophomore year so how is it they all have their licenses? The timing literally doesn’t add up.

Also was Jen showing noa how to Hotwire a car supposed to be attractive? That’s the last we hear from her and it just? Literally reminds us all what a trash being she is. Like why 😭.

Tabby’s test.

okay but I genuinely hated this. It was such a let down from what I thought it was gonna be. Although I am proud I got the whole religious connection thing right. The kneeling DID come into play.

but like… they put Tabby in that confessional thing and what? Just awkwardly waited there? What if she didn’t have the strength to break it down. 💀. Also there was 0 damn test. If she was stuck in their nothing would have happened.

also ROSE FUCKING WATERS WTF?!? Like damnnnn awesome gory twist but also? Plot relevance at all??? There was 0 point to doing that. And also LITERALLY THEY NEVER COME BACK TO HER?!?? Like HELP. Being skinned is excruciating but it’s also not enough to kill you. It’s only the top layer of skin you have muscles and a bunch of shit that still holds you in place. And since it was the face there was no major arteries cut. She should definitely have been bleeding more considering the lack of bandages. But also she definitely would have still been alive. The cuts weren’t deep enough to kill. Just remove the outer layer of skin. Like when you take a really hard fall you can rip the top layer of skin off but you don’t die. And another gruesome example. A person can be scalped. But it wouldn’t kill them.

So that was another plot hole. And there was literally 0 reason for Wes and Mrs. Langsbary to do that to her. Especially with Langsbary being a fellow grieving mother. Wouldn’t she sympathize???

But yeah. Back to tabby’s shitty test. All that jazz and what? It’s just to get a false confession? They don’t even hurt her? They’re like ‘Lie or ELSE!’ 💀. But then they don’t do anything besides like. Show that their outside her moms house. Like Wes kept saying they’d do it ‘the hard way’ and then literally stopped BR from actually harming Tabby. And then they also say they’re just gonna kill her at the end too. So like. Why would Tabby do anything for them 🥴 if their gonna kill her either way.

Also i genuinely hate who the villains were. Like. Mrs. Lansbury? The LEAST SHOWN character the entire season? We saw her like three times. And she’s so on the nose it’s stupid. Like her entire thing was supposed to be hatred on Imogen and Tabby.

so WHAT THE FUCK was her beef with Mouse Faran and Noa? Literally NOTHING. She was a HORRIBLE villian. And Wes?? Spontaneously being a psychopath?????

He could have just stayed at the Orpheum. Literally him leaving suddenly made him all the more suspicious. And he didn’t need to do the full apology to Tabby if he was just gonna be like PSYCH JK!

Although, I am laughing hysterically at the irony. Hes doing this whole thing cause he thinks it’s so hard to be a straight white man but he literally needs Tabby to be the star of his movie for it to work. 💀

Also I feel like the Wes x Lansbury thing was so stupid and un needed. Like. Literally NO ONE would have guessed that. And it added 0 plot. It would have been the exact same vibe if they were just friends. And it’s such a random pairing too that no one would have guessed it at all. Which. Makes it kinda annoying. Like. You gotta be able to make a connection somewhere and they really just didn’t.

Also!

Wes ‘All the exits are blocked!!!’

Tabby : immediately after literally runs through the frail glass window.

Wes ‘I was HOPING she’d do that!’

WHAT?!? If you were hoping she’d do that then you should have posted a goon outside the damn window 😭.

Also who was the sacrafice??? The reckoning was? Literally just killing tabby? Or what? This whole build up for what??? All the girls survived. The movie failed. and something that’s killing me

WHO WAS THE FUCKING ARCHANGEL??? Why did they have that on the poster if there was no third person.

How the fuck was the church involved in this. What was the entire point of their weird little cult if they just killed the pastor and didn’t recruit any of the church goers for the event. The entire church plot was USELESS. And even the Pastor and Mama Beasley were talking about the Reckoning. But what did they think it was gonna be??? Not a rent a church for a murder spree HUH?!

Literally who were the people even worshipping in that weird circle cult? What was the weird mystical powers that kept taking over everyone? What made it so addicting and caused people to become literal shells of their former selves?? None of that’s explained? You can’t tell me it was just god or Jesus or something???

No and literally WHAT was the point of Hell house??? How did they even know all those intricate things about the girls if it wasn’t connected to someone who knew them like that.

WHAT was Mrs. Beasley doing to Kelly?! I truly feel for my girl and I genuinely want the best for her. But i swear to god some CPS involving shit was happening in that prayer closet.

Also the girls just kinda rapidly forgave Kelly. I mean. Imogen went from ‘IM GONNA MAKE YOUR LIFE HELL 👹’ to ‘Omg we’re FGE besties 👯‍♀️💅✨’

And again. I want them all to be nice to Kelly and besties cause clearly she did all this shit because of her genuinely fucked up and traumatizing household. Her Dad was physically and mentally abusive. She was constantly overshadowed and criticized for not being her sister. Her sister is KILLED and (omg?? Didn’t she kill her dad??) her dad dies. Then her MOTHER becomes some super Tyrant Christian cultist leader who ALSO turns psychotic and mentally and physically abusive. Oh also Kelly was literally KILLED and revived. She needs some damn therapy.

Also also. What the hell did Mrs. Beasley accomplish with killing Kelly??? She didn’t even get a damn warning. It wasn’t even a test. Their wasn’t even a fated poster.

? was it jsut cause Kelly was digging around? Getting suspicious? She was suspicious of her MOM not Mrs. Lansbury???

Although honestly out of anything this season has made me radically ship Faran and Kelly. Like hell they both had the same boyfriend. And they have insane chemistry

Okay hmm. Ending. Tabby just KILLS Wes? That final confrontation was super weak and sudden. They definitely should have fought a little bit. Or something.

(also. Tabs. I love you. Self defense is awesome) but logically. The likelyhood of her defeating 4 grown men with minimal fighting and like 0 injuries is not logical. It was badass of course. She slayed. But considering size and strength difference (and the fact we haven’t seen her do any strength training like Faran has) makes it kinda goofy to see her just. Absolutely hand four men their ass on a gourmet platter. The logistics get thrown out the window.

OH AND??? We’re just gonna ignore the fact she KILLED Wes on a LIVE STREAM?!? I was waiting for the show to address that and they just didn’t. Like. She didn’t even do it off camera or anything. Wide shot you have Tabby running and impaling Wes with a Camera unprovoked. (I mean of course I know it’s not unprovoked. But In a court case a snooty lawyer would easily jump on the fact Wes didn’t make any motion of violence to her first)

like also it was a livestream. Someone would have noticed he’s dead and reported it? Something official would have happened??? I want Tabby absolutely ripping everyone to shreds in court. I want Faran to ACTUALLY use her Lawyer mother to help Tabby! Give us some more one on one girl time! That isn’t just Imogen and Tabby!

(but also. When will the writers realize we all just collectively want Tabogen to be canon like I swear to god their baiting us at this point did you see their last convo scene 😭)

speaking of that.

Tabby : I can’t wait to move forward and look to the future! A is totally dead!

A : On his way to murder Dr. Sullivan ‘Hehe so glad to still continue my original plan from season 1!’

Oh and DR SULLIVAN??? She had zero relation to Wes and Langsbury but they just spontaneously kidnapped her and shoved her in the cabin for no reason.

and come ON. A DOUBLE deepfake?? I loved her character but now she’s once again like secretly a jerk???

Also the liars all knew she was illegally recording them for her book why the hell would they go back to see her again. Like. They know she’s not BR but she definitely still committed a crime.

Also i actually hate how they killed her. Come on. On her knees begging to know if Archie killed Sebastian and not being told before she’s killed? That was actually the cruelest ever. And the most darkest kill honestly.

And yeah uh. That’s my reaction to the finale. I hate the ten million plot holes. Despise the villains. Love the actresses. And uh? Guess I want a third season! Cause they really need to get A off the streets and maybe we can finally have some dang answers. Also I need more time for Tabogen to be canon lol!

Sorry this was so long. I just had so many thoughts towards this episode

lol okay this was long I and I will answer as my points as I can, but the thing that jumped out at me was when you were talking about Faran and Kelly and Greg and my brain went, "Faran/Greg/Kelly" polycule? because.... I could see it. lol. I did also already take my ambien, so maybe that's helping. But that kinda makes sense?

Okay, here are my thoughts in response to everything.

I didn't hate the finale. Overall, I had a fun time watching it, which is basically what I'm here for, but I do agree that there's a TON of stuff that just doesn't add up or make sense and could have been done way better.

Yeah, there was literally NO reason to put the girls in summer school? Like I actually can't think of one. They're never there. They all could have gotten their part time jobs. They would all still be going to therapy presumably. It just doesn't have to be a plot point??

The way they handled Noa, Jen, and Shawn this season will never make sense to me. It was so obvious how every writing choice they made would make more and more people annoyed/upset at Noa and Jen. It's like they thought Noa was so popular she could get away with any behavior this season. But Noa was so popular because people liked how she handled the conflict in her life (rationally, but with a sense of humor), which is the opposite of what happened here. And then none of it even mattered. Exhausting.

And I hear your point about the show not handling consent well in this particular situation. Informed consent is important, and Shawn never got the chance (because he was not informed) give (or not give) that. And that's shitty. And that shouldn't have happened to him.

I hear you about the plot holes. I have guesses on a few, but a lot of them I've got nothing.

I do think the 3rd figure in the poster is Chip, it's just that the ghost of his life is the motivation for Rose. When Tabby & Imogen visit her earlier in the episode, she shows them a picture where Chip has wings and a halo.

But here's the big one, WES ISN'T EVEN DEAD!! I totally missed this when I watched the episode, but I went back and checked and Dr. Sullivan says "Mrs. Langsberry and Wes have been arrested." gshjgfhjsdgfhjs How is he not dead???

I definitely hear and share a lot of your frustration. I had a good time, but there are a lot of things that I think either need to be addressed in season 3 or were just flat out plotholes, and I do think too many character arcs were rushed (like Kelly) and yeah. It was a lot.

[imonawholedifferentlevel]

𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 - 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐥 𝐃𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠

ꜱᴜᴍᴍᴀʀʏ: ʏ/ɴ ᴡᴀꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʀᴀɴᴋꜱᴛᴇʀ ᴏꜰ ʜᴇʀ ꜰᴀᴍɪʟʏ ᴀɴᴅ ɴᴏᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴍᴀᴅᴇ ʜᴇʀ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ʜᴀᴘᴘʏ ᴛᴏ ᴍᴇꜱꜱ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʜᴇʀ ꜰᴀᴠᴏʀɪᴛᴇ ꜱɪꜱᴛᴇʀ

ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢꜱ: ꜰᴜɴɴʏ, ꜱʟɪɢʜᴛ ꜰɪɢʜᴛɪɴɢ, ꜱɪꜱᴛᴇʀʜᴏᴏᴅ, ꜰʟᴜꜰꜰ, ᴄᴜʀꜱɪɴɢ

ᴘᴀɪʀɪɴɢꜱ: ᴄᴀʀᴏʟ x ꜰᴇᴍ! ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ (ᴘʟᴀᴛᴏɴɪᴄ)

ʀᴇQᴜᴇꜱᴛᴇᴅ ʙʏ: ɴᴏʙᴏᴅʏ

I heard the sound of stomping footsteps coming up the stairs and I smirked when the doorknob violently turned and the person tried to open the door only for it to be blocked by the chair.

"Y/n, open the damn door! I know you have my fucking jawbreakers you little cunt!" I heard my big sister Carol yell from the other side of the door, if you thought her and Barbra's fights were so bad, you definitely haven't seen ours.

I'm the second youngest in our family, being older than Debbie by a year, but younger than my older sisters by six and seven years. I was the prankster of the family, pulling pranks on everyone in the house and I absolutely enjoyed it.

Me and Debbie were the golden children, which made Barbra and Carol despise us well, mostly me, because I loved making them angry.

But out of everyone in the family, I'm more notorious for picking fights and doing pranks on Carol, since the girl had huge anger issues and was easy to piss off.

There were times when we both ended up getting into multiple fights. Although she wins them, I still get a good few punches at her.

But no matter how much we argued and fought, I knew I was her favorite sibling.

I have been a tough one since growing up, but not in a good way. I had a good relationship with my mom, but not with my dad, who also has anger issues but is way more violent with Barbra and Carol.

There was one time when I came down stairs and saw him beating on Carol. I ended up jumping in and smashing a glass bottle over his head.

After that day, we didn't have a good relationship, but everyone else in the house I was good with.

"I don't know what your talking about?" I said with the innocent voice that I knew pissed her off "Y/n, I swear to god if you don't give me my shit back I'm gonna kick your ass into a coma!" she sneered, banging on the door.

"Girl go stomp the yard with those big ass boots, your not gonna do monkey shit" I replied, rolling my eyes and took a jaw breaker out of the bag and put it in my mouth.

"These boots might be big but your gonna get these size sevens right across your head"

"OK big foot!" I scoffed and turned up the radio, smirking at the sound of her yells of anger as she tried to push the door open.

"I'm telling you right now when I get in that room I'm gonna kick your ass and I don't care about you being smaller than me!" She exclaimed, pushing the door, but to no avail.

"And I'll kick your ass right back, so instead of worrying about me you need to worry about giving the garbage man his boots back" I laughed out, moving the jawbreaker to the other side of my mouth.

But that laughter quickly disappeared when the chair fell to the ground and the door swung open to reveal Carol. Her face was red and she definitely looked like she wanted to kill me. I chuckled nervously and grabbed the jawbreakers.

"Hey sissy, you know I didn't mean what I said", I said, but within a second she lunged at me. I yelled out in surprise and jumped on the bed, dodging her attack, and I quickly jumped off and shot out of the room and down the stairs, hearing her right behind me.

"Coming through! Sorry Barb!" I squeaked, shoving Barbra to the side.

I used everything I could to dodge her grabs at me, kitchen counters, chairs, sofas, anything because I knew once she caught me my ass was grass.

I was gonna run back upstairs when I felt an arm wrap around my neck and put me into a head lock.

I struggled trying to get out of her impossibly strong grip, "Give them back!" Carol yelled, trying to reach for the jawbreaker's jawbreakers, but I flung us to the ground and pulled her hair, making her scream in pain.

We were rolling around throwing punches, pulling hair, and yelling at each other while Barbra watched in amusement and Debbie was trying to stop us, but it all stopped when the doors opened, revealing our parents with groceries in their hands.

We were still rolling around until the voice of our mom stopped us in our tracks. "Carol and Y/n Denning stop this instant!!" We turned our heads to the door and finally saw them and they did not look happy.

I smiled widely and got off, Carol not forgetting to give her a swift but slick kick to her side which made her glare at me and my smile got wider, "Hi mommy, how are you!" I said.

"I'm fine and you are both grounded. Go to your rooms" she said, and walked past us to the kitchen with dad following behind her.

My smile dropped into a pout and I stood back up just in time for Carol to snatch her candy from my hands. "Touch my shit again and I'll break your damn nose". I smirked and got closer to her. Our faces inched from each other's.

"OK carpet muncher", I said looking into her matching eyes. She growled and stormed up the stairs "I'm definitely her favorite", I thought, crossing my arms with a smug look and going upstairs to my room.

[mxnkeydo]

so scarlet (it was maroon) ✧ sokeefe

✧ ship: Sophie x Keefe

✧ what to expect: it all went down went a book went soaring across the classroom but sophie never expects it to end the way it does. acrylic smeared on cheeks, pigment-stained clothes, and a whole keefe sencen later, maybe she never despised him as much as she thought she did.

✧ genre: romance, fluff, humor, sarcasm - enemies to lovers trope, human au, and a love triangle to torment you guys 😈

✧ word count: 1112

✧ warnings: keefe having super super depressing and wistful thoughts

✧ link to masterlist

✧ link to chapter three

✧ link to chapter 4.5

✧ A/N: hey guys!! sooo this chapter is basically about keefe being depressed because he basically uses humor as a coping mechanism for the emotional abuse he suffers from at home. but the next chapter is gonna have some action, so bear with me through this one. love ya'll!

***

CHAPTER FOUR

“Your house?”

“My house,” Sophie confirmed, turning left instead of the usual right. This session—their fourth—was going to be at Sophie’s house, as she relentlessly insisted after meeting Keefe’s father. It was surprisingly close to the academy; two lefts and a right later, they were walking up the driveway to the front door. A large garden occupied the front yard, thriving with spiky rosemary and tall tomato greens. A hybrid cherry blossom tree made an arch to the front door, baby pink petals creating a beautiful carpet beneath. A ratty sign hung on the brown door, reading: This is Our Happy Place.

Keefe swallowed, only giving Sophie a tight-lipped smile when she glanced at him. This was what a real house felt like. His was just a structure with people inside. But Sophie’s house was a home sheltering a family, he could tell by the relaxed smile on her face. While he dreaded the bell signaling the end of the day, Sophie must’ve looked forward to it. How could she not? Her home was everything his wasn’t.

Sophie knocked on the door, and it opened to reveal a tall woman, maybe in her late twenties (although she could’ve passed for a college student). Her auburn locks shimmered under the noon day sun as she smiled at her daughter. 

“Hey, sweetie,” she greeted her with a peck on the cheek. Her eyes then fell on Keefe. “Who’s this? Oh, you know Grady’s going to go mad if he finds out you’re having a boy over.”

“Mom!” Sophie exclaimed, veiling her face with her hair. “Keefe’s my art tutor. I’m going to fail the semester if I don’t bring my grades up.”

“It’s still a wonder to me why you chose art over coding.” Sophie’s mom kissed her forehead. “Dinner will be ready soon, ‘kay?”

“Mhm. Thanks, Mom.” 

Keefe watched both mother and daughter interact with shock, their words filled with love and compassion. He knew this was normal in a regular household, but, well—he didn’t live in a regular household, did he?

“Hi. I’m Keefe. Keefe Sencen.” He held out his hand, and Sophie’s mother took it with both of hers.

“Call me Edaline. It’s wonderful to meet you, Keefe. Thank you for tutoring my daughter,” Edaline smiled with gratitude, her eyes warm. Keefe could only nod and smile tightly, jogging to catch up with Sophie on the stairs.

“That’s your mom?” He asked. He needed something, anything, to take his mind off his troubles. “Wow, you look nothing like her.”

“Yeah. Um, I’m adopted.”

“Oh.” Keefe’s awe and surprise only climbed higher; a family without blood relation, yet they were so close-knit. To put it simply, how? How did this come to them so easily, yet his own dad couldn’t even spare him an ounce of fatherly emotion?  And when his mother was alive, she never paid any attention to him either.

He would never understand them. Ever. 

“I have paints we can use, even though I've never opened them in my life.” Sophie opened the door to her room and Keefe followed suit.

“Huh. I wonder why.” 

“Very funny.” Sophie got out her paints and paper while he looked around. Posters of famous singers and movie stars hung above her bed against the sage walls. The setup was simple and aesthetic; a neat bed, a nightstand, a closet and dresser, and room decor. It all seemed alien to him when he lived in a messy room where he didn’t have the slightest clue where anything was.

“I think we need some music,” Sophie commented out of nowhere. Scrolling furiously through her phone, she clicked on a playlist that softly serenaded Keefe with the melody of Taylor Swift’s “You’re On Your Own, Kid”.

Keefe scoffed in disbelief, even though the tune was pretty. “Seriously? You’re a Swiftie?”

“Her music is amazing!”

“Yeah, if you’re a wannabe main character.”

“Well, you’re a disgrace,” Sophie declared, frowning. “Taylor Swift is a goddess.” They both plopped down in a chair as Keefe began his lesson.

“How about we paint nature today? Hey, I have a great idea, we’ll paint cherry blossoms! You got those ear-cleany thingies?”

“‘Ear-cleany thingies?’ You mean cotton buds?”

“You know what I meant!”

“It’s like you’re a literal child. Yes, I have them.” Rummaging through a drawer, she pulled out a handful. “Here are your ‘ear-cleany thingies’.”

Keefe grinned. “Thanks.”  In a blink of an eye, he picked up a brush and painted a trunk with brown watercolor, the trunk getting thinner as it reached the sky. From there, he drew branches. Sophie struggled to keep up, her work rushed while his was smooth.

“Can you just slow down?”

“No can do! Get on my level, Foster.”

“Ugh. Can you at least show me how to paint the branches?”

“I guess.” Keefe stood, leaning over her hunched figure, and gently took Sophie’s hand, guiding her hand as she painted the curved tree branch in cautious strokes. He couldn’t help noticing the subtle scent of pine in her strawberry-blonde hair and remembering the way she tucked it behind her ear whenever she was nervous. He took a deep breath.

“Thanks.” Sophie wiggled her way out of his grip and drew the rest, somewhat satisfied with her work.

“That’s better,” Keefe said, slightly hurt. “Your tree looks like it survived a hurricane and lived to see another day, but it’s definitely an improvement.”

“My tree looks fine, thank you very much!”

Keefe opened with mouth with a well-prepared retort when an angelic voice interrupted the bickering:

“Sophie, dinner’s ready! And bring your friend too!”

“He’s not my friend,” Sophie muttered under her breath, getting to her feet. Keefe placed a hand on his heart with a playful wounded expression,  tucking away the feeling he was really experiencing: disappointment.

“I’m not? Then what are we?” In the silence of Sophie’s thinking, Taylor sang gently, 

‘You’re on your own kid.

You always have been.’

And maybe he was.  Maybe he was alone, but somehow the thought of Sophie Foster managed to put a small smile on his face. It was a miracle he couldn’t explain, a miracle he accepted entirely, and a miracle he would never grow tired of.

Acquaintances,” Sophie said suddenly, interrupting his thoughts. “We're acquaintances, not friends.”

“Aren’t those the same thing?”

“Not really.”

“Oh.” Keefe cocked his head and smiled. Maybe they weren’t friends, but at least Sophie didn’t discard him like garbage, like how his parents had done in his early days. 

But when did he start caring how she thought of him?

Keefe shook it all off, bowing as he gestured towards the door.

“Well, after you, my acquaintance.”

[justmybookthots]

Caraval

Just finished my 50th book of the year and it's… Caraval.

Yes, by Stephanie Garber, who wrote the OUABH series, which I utterly despised. (I'd already forsaken this series by Book 2 and I'm just cackling people were disappointed by Book 3.) Caraval is claimed by many to be worse than OUABH, so I honestly was debating kicking it off my list or just ignoring it forever? But then I saw it in the library, and you must understand that it is NEVER in the library. It is always on loan for some godforsaken reason. So, I borrowed it, out of a scholarly curiosity, you can say.

I went into it expecting to hate it, and I… didn't. 

To me, this was more enjoyable than OUABH? At least, the first seventy-percent. I was really enjoying every page and wondering why the general public hated it? The premise was really fascinating—a girl trapped in some magical game with so many twists and turns—and I had soooooo many questions and… yeah.

Now…. spoilers.

The last thirty-percent kicked in and I went from intrigued to confused and not enjoying it anymore. The writing was so WEIRD when Julian 'died'. I couldn't feel anything at all while Scarlett wept in the most comical fashion for her man, lol. It's hard to put a finger as to what went wrong, but all  I can say is that the writing did not execute it properly. Lord, it was so over the top. Also, I just didn't care much for Julian and the plot twist about his identity came to no surprise to me. 

This man did the stupidest and most bewildering shit; why did he just stand there and let Scarlett's father slash his face? I swear to the heavens, Stephanie loves writing her men as martyrs, and the women their Bob the Builders. The whole "I'm bad and there's no redemption for me, I have secrets you should be afraid of so stay away" made me hurl. AND WHAT FOR? The ending reveals that none of his tragic backstory was real ANYWAY.

I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY JULIAN STAYED BEHIND TO STAY WITH SCARLETT WHEN HIS ROLE WAS APPARENTLY JUST TO BRING HER TO CARAVAL. You're telling me it was love at first sight? It was so confusing and unconvincing.

Also the last part where Tella introduces Scarlett to 'Daniel' and then Scarlett goes to the balcony and then 'Daniel' reveals himself followed by the sisters' father showing up and then Tella dramatically jumping off the balcony… I was actually laughing during this scene because it felt like I was reading a badly done play. It's supposed to be sad, intense and dramatic (I think?) but I was just like… "What is going on, why is everyone yelling" and when Scarlett wept again for her dead sister, I was on the floor.

It was so bad. 😭

And guess what? It turned out NONE OF THIS MATTERED ANYWAY. The whole play was Legend doing Tella a favour and pulling this whole charade so that they could escape their dad by having Tella fake her death in front of him. I……. WHAT. All this… when it was just to fake a death? Surely there were less dramatic ways than this? Julian's backstory was fake, Julian's death was fake, everything was a cop-out. Even him giving up one day of his life for her was… for what, exactly? I'm so lost. And Scarlett just went, "I FORGIVE YOU" and bats her lashes. I swear this happened twice. The man pulls something on her, she stews, then goes, "I fOrGiVe yOu". 

Seriously, how bored are Legend and his performers to pull this madness/rigmarole just for these two sisters to escape their dad? I understand he made a deal with Tella and now he wants her to give him something in exchange, but it felt so…. WEIRD. I cannot believe the first 70% of suspense and fun just got smashed into pieces by this horrible ending. 

That said, I really am curious as to Legend's identity, and I want to know more about what he wants in return from Tella. Stephanie Garber is definitely not for me as a writer (the way she writes her heroines is cringe as fuck, same as her heroes) but I still want to check this trainwreck out. I'll see how it goes. For the most part, I enjoyed this book more than I didn't. I'm GLAD Legend didn't show himself at the end. If the man that claimed to be Legend in the last couple of chapters had really been Legend, I'd have been so disappointed.

- 30 Oct

[showtoonzfan]

Why Stolas From Helluva Boss Is NOT A Good Dad (rant and analysis)

I think it’s finally time to talk about everyone’s favorite “misunderstood owl birb” from Helluva Boss, specifically, how much of an “AWSOME amazing dad” he is, and his relationship with his daughter, Octavia. When it comes to Stolas, despite despising him like Angel Dust and Blitzo, I could care less if people felt bad for him, or really want him to be in a relationship with Blitz. Okay, that’s a lie, I do care, but nothing grinds my gears even MORE by how I keep seeing both the CREW and fandom gush over how good of a dad he is, so today, I’m going to talk about why I PERSONALLY don’t think he’s a good dad. Without wasting any more time, let’s get to it.

It of course all circles back to the pilot, where these two portraits are shown in the background of two shots. One were blitz was sneaking the book away from Stolas, and the other where Stolas is in on the phone with blitz.

This revealed to the audience that Stolas DOES indeed have a daughter, and judging by the scene where blitz falls on the table, he is currently cheating on his wife. We of course at the time didn’t know his daughters name yet, or anything about her, just that she existed. I should also note, that judging by most of the comments and videos I’ve seen of the fandom talking about Stolas, there were always two categories. People either hated Stolas for his creepy pervy vibes, or people downright loved him for his raunchy and goofy look and voice. Of COURSE though, most of the people who hated him seemed to change their opinions once episode 2 released.

With episode 2 coming out, the plot was going to be about Stolas, and the relationship with his daughter, as he takes her to a theme park she loved when she was a kid. Kinda early to start the emotional beat of a serious issue for a comedy show, but whatever Viv, you do you.

In the beginning of the episode, we open with his young daughter crying in the middle of the night, a flashback. We are also technically introduced to his wife Stella, as she groggily asks him to deal with her. Despite Stolas being tired, he goes, which yes, is sweet. He refers to his daughter as “Via” short for her real name “Octavia”. After she reveals she had a bad dream, Stolas of course sings a song, telling her that no matter what happens, she’ll be okay. While again, this scene was very sweet, and reveals that Stolas cares for his daughter deeply, this is one of the scenes that seemed to blind the crew and fandom. I was always sick of people constantly acting like just because he sang a sweet beautiful song to her in the past, that suddenly makes what he’s doing NOW okay, or make him any better than he is now. To quote Spinel from SU, “You can’t just make everything better by singing some stupid song”. I think it’s clear Viv’s intentions here were to have him sing a song not just because she has an obsession with musicals, (like EVERY thing she touches needs to have songs in it) but because she wanted to show how close they were before, versus now, because of HIM. Something HE did, something HE fucked up with, yet even she herself seems to act like he’s a misunderstood baby who loves his daughter. Let’s move on to get what I’m talking about.

It’s clear that Stolas and his daughter had a very good relationship with one another, but once the years passed, and ever since he has been associated with Blitz, everything changed.

Octavia has now turned into an edgy emo teen-OH I mean a teen who’s life has turned upside down. She now barley seems happy when she’s around the house, not even looking like she wants to live there. Her father’s actions have not only ruined his relationship with her, but her mother’s relationship with him as well, causing the teen to look depressed and in a horrible mood most of the time, so not only has her father ruined their family’s relationship, but her life as well. We cut to Via waking up abruptly to her mother’s screaming at her husband. We can tell this has certainly happened before, as Via is not happy. Now, I’m not here to talk about Stolas as a husband, but as a father, to let’s forget Stella. Stolas, seeing his daughter clearly upset, tries to lighten the mood by wanting to take her to a theme park she loved when she was a child, Loo Loo Land. Now, let me just say that yes, Stolas IS trying to put in SOME kind of effort for his daughter. We see that he genuinely wants her to be happy, and he truly believes that if they go to a theme park she used to like, she’ll feel better. We can all of course appreciate the effort he’s trying to put in, he could have simply ignored her like Stella did, but instead, he tries to go out and do something with her. Even if he’s clearly not listening to Octavia or thinking about what SHE might want, (since she says she’s not five anymore and he completely brushes it off), it’s STILL sweet that he’s trying. When it comes to trying to fix relationships, you got to take baby steps remember? I would have at least appreciated him as a character if this is the route they went, but of course.....now we’re at the part you knew was coming. The part that REALLY grinds my gears, the part that basically ruined any from of likability I could have had for him when it came to him and Octavia. Stolas says he’ll get the security going, and when he explains that they’re rich and famous (so demons would go after them) WHO does he invite as a bodyguard?

THE MAN HE’S FUCKING CHEATING ON WITH HIS WIFE OF COURSE. THE MAN THAT’S LITERALLY THE PROBLEM TO THIS WHOLE SITUATION.........BLITZO.

Now, I’m going to speak calmly, so let me share something about myself. Whenever I try to bring up HUGE unpopular opinions when it comes to Viv and her works, I always genuinely try to be calm and not be petty at all. I feel like if you’re petty, people are most likely to not listen to you. Now, yes, I’ll admit that I AM petty from time to time when it comes to my HH/HB and Viv related posts, but...I just have to say this because...I’m sorry. I have nothing against people who disagree with me on Stolas being a good dad but I just....is the fandom...blind? Like....did we ALL watch the same video? Is the crew blind? Because this....THIS right here, is ALL the proof you need pointing to Stolas being a shitty dad. I think the worse part is that this ain’t even the ONLY proof that points to that, but it is a huge one, the one that everyone saw yet....no one batted an eye for some reason.

So let’s recap........Stolas sees his daughter upset, especially since he ruined the relationship between him and his wife by cheating on her. In attempts to cheer her up, he tells her they’ll have a day to one another, JUST THE TWO OF THEM, and brings her to a theme park she used to love when she was younger, not really getting her as a person NOW, but still trying. He then says they need security since they’re so famous, and so...he brings along Blitz, the person he’s fucking, the person who’s the center of the main problem that’s ruining his daughter and wife’s life, JUST TO FLIRT WITH HIM. Because yes, we DO learn that he can fend for himself, so not only did he LIE to his daughter about needing security, but he brought blitz along just to get his hard on, when again, the whole point he was DOING this in the first place was to spend time with his daughter. This is why I don’t get the fandom. How...HOW is he a good dad? I’m not even DONE with this post yet and I already managed to explain why he sucks. I feel like the crew and fandom just saw this scene and brushed it over, because I swear, NO ONE EVER TALKS ABOUT THIS SCENE. Ever. Everyone is just blinded by the song he sang, and the ending, which yes, we’ll get to. But holy FUCK guys, this man stooped the bar low all the way to Gahanna.

The funny thing is out of all of this is that at the same time, he ACTUALLY is trying still. He asks his daughter to check out the rides with him, looks at shirts and toys with her, and suggests going to see Robo Fizz’s show since she “loved” it so much as a kid. Again, he’s not really listening to her at all and seems blind (which btw, even if he’s trying, that doesn’t excuse him not listening to her) but he’s STILL trying. However, like I said before, his effort is literally RUINED once he decides to bring blitz along. I don’t understand why Viv decided to go this route. I don’t get why we couldn’t have this episode just be centered around Stolas and his daughter trying to connect with one another, instead of pointless filler scenes with Moxxie and Millie, and a scene with Blitz and Robo fizz that goes nowhere. Blitz and his crew did NOT need to be in this episode, but...of course they had to for the Stolatz shippers and M&M lovers. Oh, and I guess we’re following the Steven Universe law as well, where the main characters HAVE to be in every episode no matter what. I’m trialing, so let’s continue.

So yeah, throughout the whole episode, Stolas is constantly flirting with blitz on the side. Can I just be the first to say (since I guess again, the fandom and crew didn’t seem to notice or care) Stolas flirting with Blitz in FRONT OF HIS DAUGHTER IS DISGUSTING. Not only is he being inappropriate as all hell, (being vulgar and saying blitz is the only man who can fuck him when she’s RIGHT there) but he DOESN’T EVEN BOTHER TO THINK HOW SHE MIGHT FEEL IN THIS SITUATION. Like this “best dad in all of hell” apparently has the nerve to flirt with the key to this families problems, in front of his daughter who’s literally depressed and miserable BECAUSE OF THIS. Like....WOW guys, Stolas is SUCH a good dad omg yess good owl birb 🥺 NO. Just no. Christ, if I had a father who tried to fix his relationship with me by bringing me to a place I was specifically vocal about NOT wanting to go, as well as bringing the person he’s cheating on my mom with just to get his popsicle standing, I would have said “fuck off, you don’t deserve my love”. I’m sorry, but it’s the truth. Let’s wrap this up.

So, after Octavia FINALLY has had enough with her fathers bullshit and storms off (as she should yass queen) Stolas follows her to a fun house, (oh, of course not before asking where Blitz is because he’s his “night in shining armor”) where she’s sitting alone, in tears.

And so, we’re finally at this episodes ending, the famous scene of Stolas consoling his daughter, the scene that everyone said was “moving” and brought people to tears. The scene that wraps this whole mess up, even if it’s waaay to fucking soon to fix a complex relationship like this but again, whatever. It starts out with him sitting next to her, saying “I take it you are not having fun”. I.....GEE YA THINK? What could have brought you to THAT conclusion? Maybe it’s because you forced her to go some place she didn’t want to, and practically ignored her emotionally all day just to flirt with your sex toy but I could...COULD be wrong. Anyway, Octavia says she didn’t want to come here, and he actually apologizes, but of course saying he thought she loved it here even though any smart full grown adult would know that she’s too old for this shit and would have actually LISTENED to her when she said it the first time. Octavia expressed that she was happier when she was kid, when Stolas wasn’t with Blitz and when her parents weren’t arguing all the time. Again, I can appreciate what Stolas says here, because he finally does admit that he should have listened to her, but that’s part of the problem guys. He didn’t, and he brought blitz along. Finally, we get to the part that I think is the most important.

After Octavia says she wants to go home, but that home doesn’t feel like home anymore, Stolas....actually tries to explain how he feels about his wife. A person who used to love someone trying to explain to a child why they don’t anymore is a VERY hefty subject, and a very hard thing to do, ESPECIALLY if that child is your kid, who wants you two to be together again. I want people to know that despite everything I’ve said and what I’m TRYING to say, I’m going to say it now. I don’t think Stolas should get with Stella. I’m not saying he’s a shitty dad because he’s not in love with her anymore, or doesn’t want to be with her, because not being in love with someone anymore isn’t a bad thing, you need to do what’s best for you, otherwise you would end up miserable. I’m saying he’s a shitty dad because he doesn’t listen to her, doesn’t think of how she would feel, and most importantly, DOES NOT PUT IN THE EFFORT. Before I elaborate though, let’s finish this ending. So like I said, Stolas tries to explain what’s going on with his wife. He tries to tell her that he doesn’t love her anymore, and that he’s not happy with her, but......he just can’t get it out. He doesn’t have the words, nor knows how to tell his daughter that he can’t just go back to loving her to fix everything. Now...when it came to this scene, I didn’t know what to think. Some people found this part heart wrenching but positive for Stolas, since people seem to think that the reason he didn’t have the words was simply because he KNEW what he did was wrong, so he couldn’t say anything to back himself up. Others took that scene of him just not knowing how to say it. For me....well, I disagree with the first one. Knowing Viv, it seems more like he said that just because he didn’t know how to say it, not because he knew he was in the wrong. If he knew he was in the wrong, he would have changed his actions, he would have LISTENED to his daughter, and at least TRIED to fix his relationship with his wife, as well as cutting off blitz for a bit to make up lost time with his daughter. But...he doesn’t do that....does he?

Instead, it turns out that Octavia wasn’t upset about Stolas being a twat, she was upset because she’s afraid that Stolas will LEAVE her and run off with blitz. Wow Viv.....really? Yeah okay. Anyway, that’s when Stolas says he would NEVER leave her.....and......guess what guys? EVERYTHING IS OKAY NOW!

Yup! Everything okay, apparently all Stolas needed to do was tell his daughter he would never leave her, (because out of EVERYTHING he did to her, THAT was the biggest problem apparently) and their relationship is now magically fixed! Fuck this. I’m sorry....I....what...what kind of writing is this? And thanks to the “glorious” writing here, everyone thinks Stolas is an amazing dad, simply because he said ONE thing to her. Not because he apologized, not because he changed his actions, but because he said he wouldn’t leave her. Apparently after the HELL he put his daughter through simply because he’s a creepy horny PERVERT, this was ALL the fandom needed to instantly say he’s a good dad. Wow. But....hey....ya know what? Maybe he will get better. Maybe after seeing how hurt he made his daughter and wife, maybe after everything him and his daughter have been through, maybe he won’t go back to loving Stella, but making a change for his daughter, fixing the relationship with his wife and ease down on blitz so he can work on being a better person, so that this broken family can slowly heal and-

OH WAIT A MINUTE.....

PFFFFT......SCREW THAT. ACTUALLY PUTTING IN EFFORT TO HELP MY DAUGHTER AND TRY TO BE BETTER? FUCK MY DAUGHTER! LET’S GO BACK TO FUCKING BLITZ. WHO CARES IF MY DAUGHTER IS LIVING IN A BROKEN HOUSEHOLD, AS LONG AS I GET THAT SWEET IMP DICK, I’LL BE OKAY.

So....circling back to my question before....is the fandom blind? We’re all looking at the same thing right? How this man literally saw his daughter at her worst, and despite him apologizing to her, he goes back to fucking blitz as if episode 2 NEVER HAPPENED. I....we’re literally back at the beginning. NO changes were made, we’re RIGHT back where we fucking started. No “hey blitz, I need to focus more on my daughter so we can’t fuck right now” or “hey blitz, I’m going to have to stop seeing you because right now I need to focus on my daughter”, NOTHING. He’s just screwing around with the man who’s the problem to all of this, not even mentioning or thinking of his daughter, hell, he’s STILL SCREWING BLITZ IN THE SAME BED STELLA WAS GETTING ON HIS CASE ABOUT. If episode 2 didn’t ruin Stolas for me, it was damn well episode 5, because this reveals he made ZERO changes for Octavia. Best dad my FUCKING ass.

And you know what? I’m damn glad Stella took Octavia with her for weekends, because after THIS? This man doesn’t even deserve to look in his daughters direction until he gets his shit together. He can’t even freaking figure out if he truly loves blitz, or sees him as a play thing. Stolas does NOT deserve Octavia, I said what I fucking said. Stolas might as well run off with blitz, because blitz is all he seems to care about. And I don’t care if Stella isn’t the best mother, I truly don’t believe Octavia should be with him. Yeah it’s a hot take, but I’m sick of people saying he’s a good dad when he not only didn’t TRY to change for the sake of his daughters mental health, but he goes back to fucking blitz, and not even trying to fix the relationship with his wife. Christ, he literally used the fact that Octavia was away for HIS BENEFIT in episode 7, just so he could get close to blitz. It doesn’t matter if he genuinely loves his daughter guys. The fandom doesn’t seem to understand that you can GENUINELY love someone and still treat them like shit, or make wrong decisions. Just because you love someone, doesn’t mean you’re a saint when it comes to the relationship. I really hope in the future of this show, Stolas either puts in effort to change, or gets the consequences coming to him. And NO, Stella trying to kill him doesn’t count. I’m sick of the fandom siding with Stolas simply because Stella is worse. I don’t care if she’s worse, Stolas still did what he did, he still SUCKS AS A DAD.

He’s a HORRIBLE husband, and a horrible father. Thank you for reading.

[leviiattacks]

Lmao Levi being irritated because reader, his roomate, who he still hasn't confessed to yet, gets a cat.

The cat hates Levi but loves reader and reader loves the cat too and it's basically Levi vs the cat someone help

note :: very rushed and not proofread i only wrote for fun because once again i am bed ridden with sickness ha ha the perks of always being sick i suppose T__T

lord, does levi despise the way you act without thinking sometimes

he’s legitimately appalled at how you can manage to always do shit like this

even more appalled at how he lets you get away with it every time

now, what is the shit you have done this time?

brought a cat home a CAT

first things first, you are allergic to cats so he does not understand how that predicament will fix itself

secondly, cats shed EVERYWHERE

as much as he enjoys cleaning he is not going to clean that up every day

thirdly, cats will ruin furniture and claw at it

as well as the curtains!!!!

and levi loves the curtains in the living room because the both of you picked them out together

though it was a struggle to get you interested enough to pick a pair you liked.

maybe that’s why he’s looking at you irked by this all

you’re holding the kitten in your arms playing around with her

“peek... a... boo!”

playing fucking peek-a-boo with a cat? he questions himself in his head

“y/n. we are not keeping the cat.”

at this you innocently look up at him through your lashes

god, there you go again doing that

he doesn’t know if you’re aware of the impact you have on him when you do that

he’s good at holding his composure but that look ignites something in him

but he always has to push that something down his throat

“c’mon, you’d be the best roomie ever if you let me keep her!”

his eyes narrow at the word roomie

is that all he is to you?? a roomie???

you’re holding the cat up alongside your face and are fake pouting

“you. are. allergic. to. cats.” he punctuates every word clearly

“how do you know that?” you ask reasonably shocked he knows something that obscure and random about you

“you like talking about yourself when you’re drunk.”

a memory of him helping you throw up whilst he carefully holds your hair out of your face flashes past

if it were anyone else he wouldn’t have got anywhere near them if they were throwing up

but it was you,

it was always you.

“you rambled on and on and on about wanting a cat as a kid but not getting one because of your allergies.”

“so you would also know-” the cat tries to scratch your arm and you retract giggling

“that i really want a cat!”

“does that change your allergies? poof oh wow y/n you’re no longer allergic to shitty cats because you want one.”

you roll your eyes at his deadpan expression and pessimism

“if you knew anything about cats you would know this is a cornish rex” you now rebuttal

“a fucking what?”

“hypoallergenic cat breed! my allergies to cats are mild so it’s the perfect cat for me”

the crease between his eyebrow deepens.

“do you forget that we live in this apartment together?”

you scrunch your nose looking at your little buddy who has now settled in your lap “how could i forget that?”

he knows you see him as nothing more than a roommate

levi loves you he does but you don’t know that

but part of him thinks you do because you always give him that look when you want something

you’re doing it again.

the look.

“fuck. fine but if that thing coughs up a hair ball she’s out.”

“AAAHH THANK YOU I LOVE YOU LEVI!!!!” you’re ecstatic

his breath traps itself in his throat when he hears that

how can you carelessly say i love you??

you’re happily looking between him and the cat and hand her over to levi

“hold her you’re the dad”

“so you’re the...?” he asks

“i’m the...???” you’re clueless

he shakes his head waving it off

it takes you a moment to understand what he’s asking then your eyes widen

“ohhh the mum? yeah that would be me”

it’s so stupid, so stupid, so so so stupid he repeats it in his head the whole scenario is stupid

but it doesn't stop him from smiling like an idiot

in recent days you’ve given her the names diana, garfield and casper

sadly, none of then seem to stick because you’re too indecisive

it’s got to the point where you barge into levi’s room without asking

you’re in your pyjamas he looks at you confused as to why you’ve walked in with no permission at 2am

in a cucumber face mask...?

“name the cat please, name the cat i can’t stick to a name i’m going to rip my hair out“ you’re gripping at your hair groaning in frustration.

“edgar’

first suggestion, too ugly.

you shake your head

“candy“

second suggestion, no, just no.

you shake your head again in refusal

“zero?“

yeah, no.

another shake of the head

levi ponders and thinks hard “...angel?’

you blush, jump back and look more than startled

fumbling with your fingers awkwardly you edge closer towards the door

he just eyes you weirdly wondering what causes that reaction

well, you must like the name

“is it good enough?” he asks

you’re speechless not knowing what to actually say

“y/n...????”

you snap out of it

“isn’t that something you’d call a significant other not a cat?”

and for once in your life you actually seem kinda annoyed at him

“your cat is an angel in your eyes that’s the point” he’s explaining his point but you aren’t listening

you don’t know why levi saying that word makes your heart race

that’s why you’re annoyed right now

in fact it’s not that you’re annoyed. you’re scared that it triggers this response because this is levi.

levi, your roommate the same roommate who argues about pizza toppings with you. he’s nothing more than that.

but your cheeks continue to flush behind the cucumber face mask

“i’ll ask someone else what to name him just call him salad for now” without letting him get a word in you leave but somehow you forget the cat

salad turns to levi and gives him what can only be described as a menacing look.

“you happy you annoying shit? y/n’s annoyed because i can’t name you”

your cat jumps at him and tries to scratch at a piece of flesh but is held off easily

one cold look from levi and she stops.

“get out my room you pest.” he says as he places the cat on the floor

salad scurries away and levi rolls his eyes

he hates that cat he really does

a few hours pass levi is still up he’s always found it hard to sleep

it’s been a long day he’s just finished a thesis for his physics degree and stretches out contently

to say he’s tired is an understatement but his throat is dry and he needs to DESPERATELY hydrate

he gets to his feet and ventures into the kitchen to retrieve some water then he’ll knock out like a log and fall asleep.

the pitch of your snoring can be heard and he smiles to himself silently.

it’s all good, he’s sure you’re getting all the sleep you need.

“GRRRE”

there it is,

the little fucker, your cat is still up.

“what is it little shit?” levi asks leaned up against the surface of the counter.

salad is only staring at him blankly before turning to look over at the living room.

it’s dim the lights are switched off but levi feels something is feels off

“the hell did you do?” he asks

but salad shows no signs of breaking and revealing what it is she’s done

levi’s going to have to investigate

stepping towards the living room he flicks the lights open.

eyes survey the entire area everything looks good until he sees the way the drapes have been ripped apart

salad is picked up in one swoop she sees how levi is about to throw her out the front door and panics

meowing and struggling just in the nick of time she jumps before running away and slipping into the safety of your bedroom

groaning levi goes back to the living room to see if he’s missed anything.

well, god damn him.

scratches litter the leather furniture, it almost looks like a crossword.

salad has also conveniently taken a shit behind the sofa,

and to top it all off she’s left a dead mouse in the middle of the living room floor

levi. is. infuriated.

“you should thank her for catching the mouse”

you’re hurriedly eating some toast levi has made for you as you brush your hair out and gather it into a low ponytail

“look at the drapes y/n??” he’s exasperated and trying to make sense of your logic

“i didn’t like the drapes anyway we needed new ones.”

you aren’t taking this seriously at all and it’s getting on his nerves now

he runs a hand through his hair and glares at you “i told you taking the cat in was a bad idea”

your hair tie snaps and so do you

all the doubts from yesterday are eating you away. the question still lingers in your mind - how do you really feel about levi?

“do you have to have an opinion on everything i do? you’re my roommate not my boyfriend.”

it’s your fault for letting your anger and stress get the better of you. to be frank you have no clue why you’ve gone and said that.

if you’re honest with yourself you know he’s not a roommate. he’s not a friend either but at the same time he’s definitely not a boyfriend.

he’s more than a friend to you but you don’t think he sees you similarly.

oh how wrong you are

“roommate?”

levi’s question is filled with not an ounce of humour, the both of you know that.

oddly, he sounds displeased,

but you can’t take it back now.

and you hate backing down

“what?” you scoff

he shakes his head and makes his way to the front door not turning to look at you.

“get a grip on that cat otherwise i’m throwing it out”

SLAM!

you’ve done it, you’ve messed it up.

salad jumps up on the counter and licks your toast

maybe, he is right about the cat.

the rest of the week is incredibly busy you have an important economics presentation due today and you’ve done everything you need to prepare for it.

at least that’s what you think,

you’re stood in front of the class introducing yourself and everything seems to be going smoothly

price determination within the economic market might as well be advertised as a sleeping pill because you don’t know how you can get anyone interested enough to keep their eyes open.

but putting your best foot forward an attempt is still made.

“the buyers and sellers accept this price, and buy and sell accordin-”

you’re abruptly cut off by your professor who coughs and then proceeds to leer at you in disgust.

a few moments of silence pass and you can feel your heart hammer in your chest.

suddenly he points at the door,

he’s known for being harsh, strict and a stingy marker but it’s not as if you’ve shown up with nothing done...?

in fact this is the largest amount of effort you’ve put into your economics course since you’ve started it.

being in your usual seasonal slump has held you back but now you’re actually trying he’s saying it’s not good enough?

“your presentation. it’s awful. not enough effort put into it, leave for today.” his voice is rumbling and intimidating.

you’re stunned, you’ve worked tirelessly day and night to finish this off.

you’ve even had to cry over not knowing or understanding how to make pie charts.

interpreting data has never been your strong suit.

too embarrassed to ask for help you had to spend hours figuring out how to make it all work alongside your excel chart and spreadsheet

sighing heavily you speak up “professor i’ve spent a lot of time on this?”

“i looked through the slides. dog shit.” his response is fiery and you shudder at the boiling frustration he’s shooting right at you.

arguing in front of the lecture hall is not what you wish to do and you’re sure you aren’t going to be the only person sent out this way.

just retreat y/n 

you do.

the professor is clearly in a bad mood and taking it out on you, there’s nothing you can do about it.

wordlessly you gather your belongings and leave.

as you trudge back home the feeling of not being good enough sinks in your stomach like a heavy anchor at sea.

entering through the front door is a task and a half through your glossed over eyes but somehow you manage

you’ve kept salad in your room for most of the time after your argument and she seems to actually miss levi’s presence.

so when the first thing you see as soon as you enter is salad clawing at his bedroom door begging to be let in you aren’t surprised.

thankfully for you he’s yet to return from class and hasn’t been disturbed by the sounds.

at least that’s what you assume.

you look at salad and start sobbing

you wish you were a cat.

cats don’t get shit on for fucking up economics presentations that’s for sure.

shaking you try to hold yourself up against one of the walls

frankly, school stress is getting to you.

you tried hard on that presentation only for it to fail when it was worth a quarter of your grade.

A QUARTER...

TWENTY FIVE PERCENT...

salad nuzzles herself against your leg and you lean over to pick her up

she licks at your ear, it tickles and you laugh in between sobs

“you sure are good at comforting people huh?” you’re so worn out your laugh sounds half dead.

it’s all so pathetic. you standing in your living room wailing as you hold your pet cat like a baby.

but she doesn’t mind and let’s you cry to your hearts content.

“MEOW” salad loudly squeaks and you stroke her back but she only keeps at it “MEOWWWW.”

sensing that she’s bringing something to your attention you turn around

there stands levi awkwardly waving at you and you instinctually cover your face with your arm.

the smudged mascara is none of his business.

“wanna order pizza and talk about it?”

pursing your lips at the proposition you slowly lower your arm and scratch at the sleeve of your shirt.

"yeah, i’d love that.”

“KICKED YOU OUT THE LECTURE HALL?? YOU WORKED ON THAT FOR DAYS Y/N, DAYS??”

levi is beyond pissed he hasn’t even touched the second slice of his pizza after hearing how your presentation played out.

“it’s okay, it was probably going to go bad i can’t do anything right.”

levi’s silver eyes fog up in annoyance and you shut yourself up.

“you are the most able person i have met.”

head rocking up in surprise the confession is news to you.

“really?“

“you’re great at making pad thai, somehow you convinced me to keep that cat, i remember that other time you convinced a first year to bungee jump off a building for last years charity fundraiser.”

it truly is endearing how he doesn’t call you smart or witty or hard-working. none of that basic nonsense you’ve heard time and time again from everyone else.

the fact he’s naming the most random things makes your heart swell.

you burst into laughter remembering the first year’s quivering form and you wonder why levi even remembers that.

“if salad bothers you that much i could find a friend to look after her.”

levi looks at you like he’s just come face to face with a ghost.

“no? i like her, she might frustrate me and get in the way when i want to-” he stops himself fumbling over his sentence.

“when you want to?“ you’re leaning in closer intrigued what the rest of the sentence is.

shock flashes over his face but the next second it disappears.

taking a gulp of his water seemingly in preparation he looks you right in the eye.

“when i want to kiss you.”

and that’s all it takes for you to tug him by the shirt and slam his lips against yours, you giggle into the kiss as you situate yourself in his lap. hands ghosting over your hips he’s disoriented not sure where to place his palms but you don’t care. you’ve been waiting for this and despite his sloppy response the fact you’re finally doing what you’ve been fearing the most these past few weeks is only filling you with adrenaline.

“settle down.” he’s panting heavy and ragged. “i was meant to initiate it and look cool what the fuck??” he’s not mad, he’s just playing with you but that doesn’t stop you from getting into the role.

“and if i don’t settle?” you mischievously ask, levi’s hands are cupping your jaw he pushes your hair out of your face and simply gazes in awe.

he makes you feel so beautiful, it’s unreal.

“meow...” salad’s dissatisfied whining can be heard and then out of nowhere in one fluid motion she jumps onto levi’s chest.

“salad if you don’t mind i’m trying to make out with your dad.” you explain with a frown.

she doesn’t budge and instead a trickling sound can be heard, then a foul smell floats into the room and levi screams.

“Y/N THE LITTLE SHIT IS PEEING ON ME???”

[0bsess3d]

traitor | j.b.r.

masterlist

A/N: I've been obsessed with this song for the past like week or so, and I wanted to make it into a fic, lol. Also, this is probably bad because I’m not at all good at writing angst. But I’m trying to get better at it lol.

Warning: Mention of Cheating, Cursing, Angst ig, Confrontation, Breakups, I think that's about it.

Word Count: 874

Summary: Immediately after your breakup, John B moved on with Sarah Cameron, which makes you start to wonder why he really ended your relationship.

Song: traitor by Olivia Rodrigo

Those five words continued to repeat in your head, over and over again. “I don’t love you anymore.” You just didn’t understand. You’ve been by his side through everything. When his dad went missing. When he decided to go looking for the gold. You were there for all of it, even when nobody else was.

And he just stopped loving you after everything you’ve been through together? How dare he?

Then, while you were still trying to cope with the breakup, Kie told you that he’s moved on. With Sarah Fucking Cameron.

You had despised her since elementary school when she and her friends picked on you for having a Dora the Explorer backpack. And, yeah, you knew that she and John B sometimes talked while you were dating. But he worked for her dad, so you didn’t think anything of it. Because you trusted him.

When you first heard about this new relationship, you were pissed, to say the least. And you wanted so bad to just storm up to him and rip him a new one.

But you didn’t.

Because, even though you hated him more than ever right now, you still wanted to stay civil. For the sake of the friend group. ‘Cause without them, you had no one.

But eventually, this weight started to pile up on your shoulders. Every time you saw him with her, you wanted to march up to him and hit him across the face. However, instead, you resorted to other things like giving him the death stare every time your eyes met or “accidentally” slamming the door on his face. For a second, it worked. But, eventually, you felt like all that wasn’t enough.

You needed to get this weight off of your shoulders. You needed to get closure and finally be able to move on. Just like he did.

Next thing you know, you’re standing at his doorstep in your pajamas at 2 in the morning, knocking on his door. You had no idea what to say or even why you’re here, really. But you need to say something, or else you’ll explode.

Not too long after, the door opened to reveal a sleepy John B Routledge. “(y/n)? What are you doing here?” He asked groggily.

“Is there anyone else home?” You asked, ignoring his question.

He shook his head, both confused as to why his ex at his doorstep in the middle of the night and concerned that something may be wrong. “No, it’s just me.”

“Good, I need to talk to you.”

“(y/n), we can’t get back to-”

You shook your head rapidly, letting out a humorless laugh. “Oh, trust me, that is not why I’m here.”

John B furrowed his eyebrows, not understanding why else you would want to speak with him. “Then why are you here?”

“Can I come in?” Once again, you ignored his question.

“Yeah, uh, sure.” He opened the door wider and moved out of the way so that you could walk into the house.

Shutting the door behind you, he started to move to his couch, but you stayed standing in your place in front of the door. “You betrayed me.”

Stopping in his tracks, John B turned back towards you, surprised by your words. “What are you talking about, (y/n)?”

“You and Sarah. I should have known you were lying when you told me you were just friends.” You let out another humorless laugh, standing at least 6 feet away from him. “You know, people would stop me on the street and ask me if I knew you two were hanging out. And each and every time, I defended you.” You practically shouted the last part before dropping it at least 50 notches. “Because I thought you loved me.”

“I did love you, (y/n).” He whispered, not looking you in the eye.

Ignoring him, you continued. “And I just think it’s so fucking funny that as soon as you broke it off with me, I hear that you and Sarah are suddenly an item.” Another humorless laugh. “And it made me think, maybe when you broke it off with me, you didn’t tell me the whole truth. You weren’t dumping me just because you stopped loving me. But because you started to love her instead.” Your voice started to crack as you spoke, but you wouldn’t let yourself cry. Not here, at least. Not right now.

John B stayed silent. Because you were right. He broke up with you because he realized he wanted to be with Sarah instead.

“And then, it’s like you purposely bring her around to show her off like she’s a new trophy. To taunt me. And to show me how happy you can be without me.” A single tear started to fall down your cheek, but you wiped it before John B could notice it.

There were a few seconds of silence as you collected the rest of your thoughts. Until finally, you began again. “And fuck, I feel so stupid, ‘cause I defended you to people who thought you were cheating on me.”

John B finally looked up at you, slightly hurt at the implied accusations. “(y/n), I never cheated on you.”

“I guess you didn’t, but you’re still a traitor.”

--

a/n again: I still don't know if I like this but I'm still gonna put it in my queue and maybe I'll delete it later.

[everysongineverykey]

I'M DONE. HERE. TAKE THESE CHAPTER 2 THOUGHTS AND RUN, BABY.

so i'll try to go in order here. uhhhh... there's a LOT i have to say. first: toriel giggling sprite my beloved

on that note, ALL THE NEW SUSIE SPRITES MY BELOVEDS

NOELLE YOU'RE SO GAY. I THINK THIS IS PROBABLY JUST BECAUSE I TOLD HER TO IN CHAPTER ONE BUT SHE GAVE SUSIE THE LUNCHBOX FULL OF CHALK!! I LOVE ITTTT

ralsei's, uh... kinda sus. the whole "recruiting" thing REALLY sketches me out. and he looks kinda... smug, all the time, like he knows what's going on.

LANCER JOINED! ROUXLS JOINED EVEN THOUGH NO ONE WANTED THAT! STARWALKER JOINED, TO EVERYONE'S JOY!

LIBRARY PORTALLLL

so before i entered the city there was that pre-city area? that looked very much like the city? except it had different music? and i thought they'd cut welcome to the city and i was SEVERELY disappointed. but then they didn't! just something i wanted to mention

NOELLE!!

throughout this game i went from despising berdly to feeling bad for him to not really liking him again, but not hating him as much as before. he'd better stay the fuck away from susie though

the queen is the best villain. she's the kind you love to hate! she's literally so funny AND her boss battle is actually tough (rip to the king but he just. wasn't a formidable enemy at all lol)

THE GANG CHARLIE BROWN DANCING TO WIN A FIGHT! SUSIE GAINING THE POWER TO ACT THROUGH SHEER FORCE OF WILL! SUSIE FORCING RALSEI TO LEARN TO ACT EVEN THOUGH HE DIDN'T WANT TO! THAT ENTIRE BATTLE WAS AMAZING! THE "BATTLE WON" END DANCING SEQUENCE! GOING INSANE GOING INSANE

the puzzles in this chapter were genuinely really impressive! i especially loved the word search puzzles and the ice-ee undertale word search reference💙

that being said. the mouse puzzles were SO fucking infuriating. i caused poor noelle a LOT of grief with those and i feel bad.

SPEAKING OF NOELLE!! the scene where she and kris are walking through the puzzle, the one that spells "december", and she's talking about when they were kids, how she loved sneaking out? beautiful. the cinnamon tography <3 also i guessed dess's full name was december a while ago and while i guess it was obvious, it's nice to have that confirmed!

also, i love that susie and ralsei are real friends in this chapter! he taught her a healing spell!!

ugh. fucking berdly. so smug and pretentious. i love queen's desire to be as far away from him as possible though

i also like his backstory. it gives his behavior, even if it's still annoying, at least some context. i get the feeling of feeling like if you're not smart, people will forget about you, and that's scary.

ALSO ALSO. GAMER BERDLY. LITERALLY EVERYTHING ABOUT THAT IS PERFECT. "I THOUGHT YOU WERE A GAMER!" "i only play mobile games, berdly." "NOOOOOO!" like i ADORE that

anyways. time for me to talk about the only thing that matters in this world: suselle. i mean, did the gays win in this chapter or DID THE GAYS WIN IN THIS CHAPTER?? THEY RODE A HEART-COVERED FERRIS WHEEL AND HAD A HEARTFELT, TENSION-FILLED CONVERSATION!

"did you ever wonder why the real susie never picked on you? well, maybe it's because... when you were both new to class, you lent her one of your pencils, like... maybe a dumb one with candy canes on it or something, and... even though it didn't actually taste like candy, she... remembered your smile." okay god thanks toby it's not like i needed my heart or anything

SERIOUSLY. TOBY "i'm gonna give the gays everything they want" FOX IS BACK WITH ANOTHER BANGER LADS

QUEEN'S BOSS BATTLE! ACTUALLY TOUGH, UNLIKE KING'S! AND GIGA QUEEN! I'M GOING INSANE THAT WAS SO SICK AND SO HARD

the way my heart BROKE when lancer turned to stone good god thank GOD our boy's okay

AND ROUXLS KAARD IN HIS PIRATE DUCK!! WITH HIS LITTLE HAT! DEMANDING THE QUEEN MAKE HIM BUTLER SUPREMETH! I LOVE HIM MORE THAN LIFE ITSELF

also!! kris and ralsei's little moment on the swan boat💙 i wasn't a kralsei shipper before but uh... that may be starting to change

it's hard because ralsei's still suspicious but at the same time i love him and want him to be happy. i don't know how to feel

also, if darkners outside of their dark worlds turn to stone after a while, why didn't ralsei? that's, uhhh... VERY sus. very weird. mr fox i need ANSWERS

WE FINALLY HAVE A WAY TO SAVE AFTER WE'VE FINISHED MOST OF THE EPILOGUE LADS. REJOICE!!

seriously the thing that peeved me about ch1 was that the last save point was on the battle stage and if i wanted to play the epilogue again, i had to. do that entire battle all over. BUT NOW THAT'S BEEN FIXED!!

UNDYNE AND ALPHYS HAVE MET UNDYNE AND ALPHYS HAVE MET THIS IS NOT A DRILL UNDYNE GAVE HER A BOX OF CANDIES EVERYBODY SHUT UP THEY'RE IN LOVE ALL IS RIGHT WITH THE WORLD

ALSO! NEAR THE BEGINNING! I FORGOT TO MENTION THE LITTLE WHITE DOG DOING DONUTS IN A TOY RACE CAR AND BACKING UP TRAFFIC! THANK YOU LITTLE WHITE DOG!

on that note: "looks like a car. this one has a man in it. he waves at you happily." AND THEN THE MAN'S GONE??? HEY TOBY???

ALSO. THE SEGMENT WHERE THE ANNOYING DOG HELPS US FIND THE KEY THROUGH THE POWER OF WANTON DESTRUCTION. THE BEST PLOT DEVICE!

TORIEL TEACHING SUSIE TO MAKE PIE STOP ITTTTT

and yes yes i KNOW kris slashed toriel's tires. that was extremely troubling. but THEY MADE PIE TOGETHER!!

"leave the chalk alone, kris" TORIEL!!

sans and toriel making egg puns and asgore running in and going "don't forget me, your eggs-husband!" is the FUNNIEST sitcom moment type thing ever. GOD.

on the other hand sans let me meet your brother god dammit i'll kill you

METTATONNNNNNN

RUDY... "who got you these flowers?" "is it weird for a married man to get flowers?" "so your wife did?" "oh, no! kris's dad did!" "...not even gonna try to understand this..." TOBY STOP ITTTT YOU'RE GIVING THE ASGORUDY SHIPPERS FALSE HOPE. YOU KNOW YOU'RE JUST GONNA KILL RUDY. YOU'RE JUST RUBBING SALT IN THE WOUND!

NUBERT! MY MAN!

seeing kris repeatedly they-themmed by multiple characters makes me so happy <3 poor kid... "college summer vacation when" "you opened the door with your eyes closed. you saw nothing" kris....

KRIS...

fucking. BLACK FOG STORM IN THE LIVING ROOM KRIS STOP IT. HOW'RE THEY GONNA REVEAL THIS WAS INNOCENT? THE KNIFE IN CHAPTER ONE WAS EASY BUT HOW WILL THEY EXPLAIN THIS

the staticy tv appearing in the dark and a toothy smile slowly fading into view in the center and lingering there ominously for far too long >>>>>>> every hollywood horror movie ever god. GOD

snowy and monster kid checking out the red door. implying there's something in there. something that kris knows about. knowing we won't get any more deltarune content for 5+ years does NOT fill me with determination

also. gaster's symbolic theme being mus_smile. and the final image in the game being a smile. god. gaster's COMING lads.

onionsan hears a song at night... a familiar song... memory, perhaps? or maybe a certain... four-note arpeggio that's hidden in a sound test room in undertale? who knows? guess we'll just have to wait for chapters 3/4/5.

this concludes my ramblings for now, but don't get it twisted- this is FAR from the last post i'll make about ch2. this whole chapter was absolutely amazing! brilliant! showstopping!! i'm genuinely soooo super impressed and excited for the chapter 3/4/5 bundle!!!

[itsclydebitches]

The post about how characters don't connect to the setting is one of the reasons why the beginning of V7 frustrated me so much. James gives this plan of telling the world about Salem, Weiss rightfully points out their will be panic everywhere and NO ONE connects that with the very real fear that this plan could put all their families in danger. Nor does anyone get excited about the Amity project potentially allowing them to call home. Ruby's been away for A YEAR. Doesn't she miss her dad at all?

Exactly! This isn't a bad faith criticism where we're demanding the show do a ton of emotional work that there just isn't time for in the fighting focused plot; a claim that it's awful because it's not functioning as one genre (like a drama, soap opera, etc.) over another (action/adventure, fantasy, sci-fi)... I mean we get nothing in regards to this issue. Not even crumbs. And these connections are, supposedly, at the very heart of the "trust love" narrative. I think it's easy for people to forget what happens between volumes — especially given the "Only the latest volume is canon" mentality — but we literally had Ironwood announce to Ruby that he'd need to use his army to keep the grimm attacks at bay once the Salem secret was revealed and then a volume later Ruby reveals the Salem secret (along with a whole lot else that is scary, horrifying, and generally negative-emotion educing) after she's cut all ties with Ironwood and his army is fully engaged in keeping Salem at bay. There is no discussion, let along concern and worry, about how many people she just got killed for an announcement that the show has failed to justify. Why is telling the world about Salem worth the casualties it will cause? What is the world going to do against the immortal witch? Ruby doesn't know. That's her whole dilemma this volume: wanting easy answers and then crumbling when she can't think of any. Problem is, she endangered the whole world before admitting, "Oh, I have no idea how to stop all this awfulness."

I mean, I understand on an emotional level why the hypocrisy of Ruby's lies and secrets don't land because most people in the fandom dislike, or outright hate, Ozpin. That's really going to color any reading there, when suddenly the beloved hero is mirroring someone you despise — you'll do whatever mental gymnastics are necessary to keep them separate. But Ruby has no evil contrast here. This is all her. We watch her make a decision that she knows will endanger the entire world, including her loved ones, and it's never even raised as a concern. The same way no one raises concerns about going to Vacuo. Yes, supposedly escaping was the only option available (I say "supposedly" because the plot did a terrible job of convincing us that evacuation was still necessary with Salem currently exploded and it having been established that she's only after the Relic on Atlas), and in a crisis situation they aren't necessarily thinking about long-term survival (that's my own stance regarding Ironwood's desire to rise high: he's not thinking about how to live there indefinitely, just how to survive the next few hours), but why send them to the Kingdom they know Salem will attack next? The Crown is hidden. You have the Lamp and the Staff. You know Salem is after all the Relics, so of course she's going to Vacuo. And so you dump however many refugees there, in the city she's gunning for next, intentionally setting up the next Fall of Atlas? Yeah, we all know it's because structurally the story hasn't been to Vacuo yet, but in-world it makes the characters look incredibly stupid. Why dump an entire Kingdom's worth of people in the most hostile environment, with the most wary citizens, a place you know the Big Bad is heading to next, when you could instead split them up and send them to safer Kingdoms that aren't currently in Salem's path? "Oh, it's because Vacuo still has huntsmen and they need huntsmen to combat all the grimm." There wouldn't be a massive grimm problem is Ruby hadn't told the whole world about Salem!

And this problem of not thinking through actions in a way that demonstrates real care for the world is just compounded over and over on a personal level. It's the same way Ruby doesn't care about what happened to Qrow until she hopes he can fix everything. The same way she doesn't react to Yang "dying." The same way Yang didn't mention Summer for five volumes. The same way Jaune, Yang, and Nora rejected Ren until he fell in line. The same way Blake is trying to inspire Ruby when they've barely exchanged a handful of sentences since Beacon. The same way, as you say, no one has made mention of the family they've left behind, let alone considered how building a communications tower might be a way of reconnecting with them, especially when at least two of them — Ruby and Oscar — left completely out of the blue. Are they presented as caring about how that inevitably hurt their care givers? Nah. The fandom gives Tai so little slack, but at least the story showed him watching Ruby's message and being upset at the danger she's in. When was the last time the girls mentioned Tai?

... have they mentioned him since they left home?

The show has done a terrible job in the last couple of years of showing that these characters actually care for one another, beyond a superficial level, especially when all the cute friendship moments that function as filler are obliterated the moment one of them disagrees about something (see: Ren). There's no sense of place and little sense of real family, from Weiss doing multiple 180s with Whitley, to Blake being the only one who reacts to Yang's "death." It all rings so hollow. I'm supposed to believe that Ruby is still the one to inspire the world towards unity when she, at the point of her speech, still hasn't even tried to reconcile with Ozpin, has been betraying Ironwood this whole time, insta-turned on the Ace Ops for trying to make her face consequences for the crimes she knows she committed, fought her way into the kingdom because she didn't like the peaceful solution Cordovin offered (send Weiss), hasn't made mention of her father, collapsed over hearing her mother's name only to get over it seconds later, at this point in the volume barely interacts with her sister, and is leading a team whose attitude ranges from "Glares at Marrow for daring to suggest she works with anyone other than Yang" and "Points a weapon at her baby brother because she, apparently, can't even manage to work with a minor civilian family member." This is the team who is going to inspire Remnant to unify against Salem, the group who keeps not unifying with everyone they need to work with? There is a serious disconnect here. You can't tell the audience to "trust love" while failing to show basic love and support among the cast, and you can't try to make Ruby the poster child for unity when she has, since Volume 6, has consistently failed to unify with anyone: not Cordovin, not Qrow until he agreed to stop questioning her, not Ozpin, not Ironwood, not the Ace Ops, not even Robyn considering that was all Yang and Blake. Ruby's struggle right now is an inability to work with people who don't agree with her 100%, her biggest flaw is an all or nothing attitude, and the writing is failing to see how that might just be a problem when she's telling everyone else to put their differences aside to work together. Having Ruby actually try to connect with people more, worry about them, express love for them, etc. — both family and allies — would at least help soften this issue, but without it her characterization has severely tanked in terms of the compassion the show wants us to believe is still there.

[falcqns]

Selfish

Pairing: Post Endgame!Bucky Barnes x Barton!Reader

Summary: You and Bucky are sent on a mission to the 1950′s, and you come face to face with Steve Rogers for the first time. 

Warnings: mention of Thanos, swearing, Steve being protecting, Y/N being more protective, The Winter Soldier makes an appearance, insinuation to smut. 

A/N: We love stories based off shifting experiences lol. also it was hella exhilarating to scream and swear in America’s Ass’s face LOL. Also If there are any chronological errors with the whole Hank Pym thing, just ignore it I haven’t seen Ant Man yet

You were hiding behind an overturned desk, your gun in one hand, both batons in another. You, Bucky, and Sam had been sitting on the couch enjoying your Saturday, when it was raided by rogue S.H.I.E.L.D operatives from 1951, hell bent on preventing the avengers from forming. But, they didn't have time-space GPS’s like you guys did, so they were thrust into 2024, a year after the events of the final Thanos fight. They had held the three of you at gun point, until you threw a lamp at them, and Bucky reflected their bullets with his vibranium arm while you and Sam ran, you to your gun and batons, and Sam to get his wing suit on. A fight ensued, and everyone had eventually spread across the compound, to where you took refuge behind the overturned desk of Tony Stark. No one had touched his desk since he passed, but that changed today.

You felt someone approach from behind, and you flicked your wrist holding your batons to turn on the taser function, and went to knock out the person behind you, when you were met with Bucky, an amused look on his handsome face. He had two time-space GPS’s in his hand, and well as the bracelets that contained the suit. 

“Don’t electrocute me yet, doll,” He said, and you rolled your eyes. “We can fix this. We go back in time, we prevent them from taking the Pym Particles. It’s risky, but I see it as our only option right now. They’re not going down. We need to do something.” He whispered. 

“What about Sam?” You whispered, and Bucky looked over his shoulder. 

“I knocked a few of them out and told him to get the hell out and I had an idea. He escaped while I covered him. They won't notice anything happening because it might be minutes or hours for us, but it's seconds for them. Trust me?” He asked, and you nodded before taking the suit bracelet and the GPS he offered you, and slipping them on. You put your batons in the holster on your lower back, and your gun in its holster on your thigh. You double tapped the suit bracelet, and took a deep breath as the nanotech quickly covered your body, and head. Bucky programmed his GPS, and you programmed yours to go back to February 23, 1951. 

You looked at Bucky and nodded, before you felt the helmet covering your face, and a pull behind your navel, seconds before you entered the quantum realm. You watched as the colours of the quantum realm sped by you as you traveled, and you glanced to your side, sighing as you saw Bucky right there with you. You were nervous, but as long as he was there, you'd be fine. 

You felt a stronger pull behind your navel, and you were thrust into 1951. Luckily, the two of you landed in a supply closet, where there were janitors uniforms. You two didn't say anything while you pulled the uniforms on, and slipped out of the closet.

You two kept your heads down, determined to not get recognized while you figured out the plan. 

“So, this specific building changed considerably since before I fell off the train, but the labs are this way, just passed the offices in this coming hallway, which is where I’m guessing they put Pym’s lab and office,” He said, and you nodded. 

You two turned the corner to the office hallway, and you heard Bucky swear. You looked up at him in confusion before following his eye line and biting back a swear word. 

Peggy was standing outside her office, talking to a rather tall, broad shouldered, blonde haired man. Before you could process who it was, Peggy noticed Bucky, and her eyes widened. She exclaimed, and the blonde haired man turned around, to reveal himself as Steve Rogers. 

“B-Buck?” He said in disbelief. “What are you doing here?”

“You’re alive?” Peggy said right after. 

Bucky sighed, but the two of you walked up to the couple. You shifted so you were standing slightly behind Bucky. You had quite a few words for Steven Grant Rogers, none of them good things. 

“We’re here on a mission. We’re trying to stop 5 rogue agents from coming to 2024, and killing me, Sam, and my girlfriend Y/N.” he said, and you stepped put from behind him, giving Steve a tight lipped smile.

Steve looked over at you, and looked you in the face intently. “How did you meet Bucky?” he asked seriously.

“I met him when my dad introduced me to the remaining Avengers when we went to see Wanda after-” You were going to say ‘the Westview incident’ but didn't want to risk screwing up the timeline so you changed it slightly. “An unfortunate incident.”

He crossed his arms. “Who’s your dad?” He said, his chin tipping up slightly. 

“Clint,” You said simply, and he eyed you again, as if he didn't quite believe you, but chose to let it go, wisely. You rolled your eyes, and heard Peggy giggle, to which you gave her a smile. 

Steve turned to Bucky and dropped his arms. “Who are these agents?”

“George Peterson, Charles Collins, William White, Robert Gomez, and Paul Cox.” You said, and Bucky looked at you in confusion.

You rolled your eyes and looked at your boyfriend. “Their names were on their uniforms. Where were you looking when they had their guns pointed at our heads?” You said. “AT THE GUNS!” Bucky exclaimed and you rolled your eyes again. 

He turned back to Steve. “We need to get to Hank Pym’s lab.” He said, and Steve sighed. “What?”

“Pym’s lab hasn't been moved to this building yet, it’s still in downtown New York. Do you guys have a car?” He asked, and you scoffed. 

“Oh yeah, we had time to shove on of those in our pockets while being attacked by psycho’s.” You said, sarcastically.

Bucky looked at you. “Y/N.” 

You glanced up at him.    

“Sorry. No we did not Capsicle-OW!” You exclaimed when Bucky elbowed you in the side.

Steve sighed, and turned to Peggy. “I might be home late. Gotta help him,” he said, and Peggy gave him an understanding smile.

“It’s okay. Go help,” She said, and after they shared a kiss, Steve was leading you and Bucky out of the building.

“How’ve you been Buck?” He asked. Bucky sighed.

“Oh, y’know. Compound got rebuilt, met the love of my life, been on a few missions with her and Sam. The usual,” To which Steve chuckled.

You three reached Steve’s car a few moments later, and you climbed in the back, while Bucky sat in the passengers seat. You weren't as tall as him, and you were afraid you'd cause an accident if you put next to the literal ass of America. 

“Wait,” Steve said, pulling out of the parking lot. “How’d you get on the team,” He said to you. You rolled your eyes but answered. 

“I’m the daughter of two super soldiers, Hawkeye and Mockingbird. My mom has multiple serums, which were passed to me, and I got both their strengths, but I prefer to use batons rather than stupid ass arrows that can only be used once,” You said, crossing your arms over your chest, and slumping against the leather seats of his car. Steve nodded, and gave Bucky a look, which Bucky knew meant ‘she doesn't like me does she?’, to which Bucky gave him a look that said ‘this is her being nice to people she despises.’ Steve nodded, and focused on the road.

As the car drove into the city, you looked at how different the buildings looked. It looked exactly like the pictures you had seen, but you were in awe. There were a few skyscrapers, but they certainly didn't look the ones you were used to seeing whenever you went to New York. Bucky and Steve were talking in the front, and you blocked out the conversation to gaze at New York in a time when your father wasn't even born. 

You felt the car come to a stop moments later, and you looked up to see you were outside a bland looking building that said “Pym Technologies”. You stepped out of the car, and Bucky immediately took your hand in his. The two of you followed Steve into the building, and made it about a third of the way down one hallway before Bucky pushed you into a room, and pulling Steve with him. 

“What the f-” you started to say before Bucky covered your mouth with his vibranium hand. 

“That was them. The guys.” Bucky said, and Steve went to the door to see the guys Bucky was referring to walk down the hallway and turn right, in the direction of the offices. 

“Okay,” Steve said, turning around to face you two. “Do you have your weapons?” he asked. You unzipped the janitor suit and pointed to the gun and baton holsters on your leggings. Steve nodded, and looked to Bucky who was taking off his janitors uniform and pulled out his gun as well. 

“Okay, good.” Steve said. “Now, I left the shield at home because I barely use it, and the kids prefer to use it as a sled in the winter.” 

At the mention of his kids, you rolled you eyes again, and Steve had had it with that. 

“You keep that up and your eyes will stick,” He said, and you stuck your tongue out at him. He furrowed his eyebrows at you and spoke again. “What is your problem?” He asked, looking over at Bucky for help, who just raised his hands in defeat. He had tried many times to figure out why you had such a problem with Steve but eventually let it go and knew you would tell him when you were ready.

But, you finally decided you were ready. “My problem? What about your problem?”

Steve scoffed. “I don't think I have a problem.”

You laughed. “Oh, you don't have a problem? Do you feel any guilt, AT ALL, for leaving Bucky behind? Did you stop for one second to think about how this might effect him? He risked everything, multiple times for your stupid ass, and when the world was finally safe, at least for a while, you ditched him for a girl you kissed once? I get it, you ‘loved’ her, but she had her own life, her own husband, and everything. You left Bucky with Sam. THEY BARELY GET ALONG! I’m not saying you should have taken him with you, because then I wouldn't have met him. I’m saying that you should have stayed. You could've gotten with Sharon, gotten married and had a few kids with her. Instead, you chose to say ‘fuck it’ and abandon Bucky when he needed you most. And believe me, I know Sharon isn't Peggy, but you liked her as well. It’s called a compromise. Also, don't you think it's pretty shitty that Bucky DIED FOR YOU, came back to life, walked through a goddamned portal, fought aliens with a gun, all without a break, and you didn't have the fucking decency to talk to him, at least once before the fight was over? For the greatest soldier in history, you sure are pretty fucking selfish.” You stated, and walked out the door with your batons in hand without a second look.

“Wow.” Bucky said, looking at Steve. Steve just shook his head and motioned for Bucky to follow you. 

“Follow her and help. I gotta find something to fight with,” He said, looking around him. Bucky nodded, and walked out. He raced to catch up with you, and saw the men huddled together in a conference room, probably planning what to do next. He pulled you to the side before you reached the room to talk to you. 

He pulled out into a little alcove in between the offices, and pressed his forehead against yours. “Baby,” He breathed out, and looked up at you when you sniffed. “What’s wrong?”

“I couldn't let him sit there and think that what he did was okay. It wasn't. he left you when you needed him most. After he came out of the ice and found out you were still alive, his main goal was to find you, and save you. But when he finally gets the ‘big defeat’ he wanted with Red Skull but didn't, he immediately abandons you for Peggy? Nothing against her, she seems nice I just hate his guts for putting you through all of that and I know you’re gonna say that I shouldn’-,” Bucky cut off your rambling with a kiss. He pulled away and smiled at you.

“He needed to hear it. Now, let’s finish our mission so we can get back to 2024, and finish The Sound of Music because I really wanna know how the Von Trapps escape Austria.” he said, making you smile, your grip on your batons tightening. The door to the conference room opened just as Steve was coming around the corner, a shield slightly smaller than his own in his hand. He pressed back against the same wall you and Bucky were pressed against.

“Looks like they're trying to recreate everything about me,” Steve said, and Bucky chuckled. He glanced down the hallway, and saw it deserted. The 5 men continued down the opposite direction, towards the labs. 

“Y/N, corner them. Steve, go around to the opposite hallway and block off the exit there. I’ll do the same with the opposite exit. After that, we should be good, and we can fight them, and hopefully stop them.” Bucky said, and Steve nodded. 

“How do you know so much about this building?” You asked, and Bucky blushed. 

“The Soldier has more than one mission that involved breaking into Pym Industries,” he said. “Now let’s do this.”

“Didn't think you were one for leading,” Steve said, tightening the shield just before he walked off. 

“Yeah well, sometimes you have to step put when it comes to Sam Wilson.” You said, walking off. You pressed your back to the wall before turning the corner, giving Steve and Bucky time to get into position. 

Through the reflection on the mirrored ceiling, you saw the men come face to face with Steve, and turn around and head the other way. They passed by you without a glance, only to be faced with Bucky, who had ripped the sleeve off his metal arm. You heard them swear. 

“Fuck. He’s The Winter Soldier.” one of them said, and when you glanced up at the ceiling again, you saw Steve charging at them, Bucky following seconds later.

The men realized what was happening, and turned around to escape down the hallway where you were, and you flicked your wrists to turn on the taser function on your batons, and hitting an agent in the head.

He fell to the ground and you kicked him in the face for good measure. You looked up and saw Bucky in a chokehold by an agent with his back to you. You stood up and ran towards him. You planted the batons on either side of the agents neck and watched as his whole body convulsed, releasing Bucky. He turned around and swore. He pulled you off to the side and let Steve keep fighting.

“W-What are you doing?” You asked. 

“Theres more rogue agents coming. I need you to bring out The Winter Soldier.” He stated. Your eyes widened.

“Shuri got rid of him.” 

Bucky shook his head. “Remember when you went on vacation with your dad, stepmom and the kids and I visited T’Challa?” You nodded. “Well, it wasn't to see the Wakandan kids like I said. I went to Shuri and I asked her to put a version of him back inside. I can take down and kill people, but YOU are the only one who can control me. I won’t hurt you, or Steve, I’ll know who you are, but you need to say my trigger words. I know you know what they are. I fight, you and Steve get to the lab, take the Pym Particles and run,” He said, glancing back at Steve, who was holding his own fairly well against multiple agents.

You nodded. “Fine. But I don't like that you lied to me, and we will be talking about this when we get back.” You stated, and Bucky nodded.

You cleared your throat, and started speaking. “Longing, Rusted, Seventeen, Daybreak, Furnace, Nine, Benign, Homecoming, One, Freight Car,” You said in Russian. 

Bucky became very stiff, his eyes shutting. His whole body spasmed, and his eyes opened, brown eyes replacing his steel blue. 

“Ready to comply,” He answered, and you gave him his orders. 

“Take down anyone who gets in our teams way,” You said, and the Soldier nodded before rejoining Steve to fight, with him, instead of against him.

You ran back to Steve and him and watched as the Soldier took down agent after agent with no difficulty. Steve’s mouth dropped open as he stood and watched. “What did you say to him?” He asked, and you smiled.

“I brought out the Soldier. Now, let’s finish this,” You said, allowing Steve to lead the way.

You two ran down the hall and turned to corner. “I thought Shuri got rid of him,” He said as the two of you continued running.

You glanced behind you before answering. “She took one Soldier out and put a different one in,” You said, and the two of you skidded to a stop when you came face to face with the Pym Particles storage room. 

“I know Hank only keeps a certain amount here, but no one but me and him know that at this point in time. Let’s go in, grab them, and destroy them. I’ll take the blame for it but I couldn't give less of a shit,” Steve said, and the two of you burst in the room. 

There were only 10 vials of Pym Particles, each of you grabbing 5. You ran out of the room, and back the way you came. You made it to the hallway where the Soldier was still fighting.

“SOLDAT!” You shouted. He stopped and turned to look at you. “Let’s go!”

He nodded and ran towards you. Steve burst through the door, and the three of you ran towards Steve’s car. The three of you hopped in, Bucky and you in the back, Steve in the drivers seat and speeding away. 

“D-do you know how to get Bucky back?” You asked Steve. He looked at you.

“Remind him who he is. That’s the only thing that worked for me, but this Winter Soldier programming is different.” 

“Wouldn't hurt to try,” You said, and took Bucky’s hand in your own. “Bucky, look at me,” The Soldier turned to you. “You’re James Buchanan Barnes. You were born March 10, 1917. Your best friend is Steve Rogers. Y/N Y/L/N is your girlfriend. Your favourite food is plums. You absolutely despise Sam Wilson,” You said, and watched as he came back to himself slowly. Steve cackled at the last part, before pulling into an abandoned parking lot.

“We gotta destroy these particles,” You said, looking down at them resting in your lap. 

“That’s what we’re doing. Take these,” He said, handing you the rest of the particles. “And put them on the ground in front of my car. We’re gonna run them over.” You nodded, took the vials out of his hand and hopping out of the car. You placed them on the ground and got back in. 

Bucky groaned, just as Steve accelerated, and ran the vials over, a satisfying crunching noise coming from under the tires. You turned and gave him a smile. He groaned again, and buried his head in your neck. Steve chuckled and turned the car around to head back. 

He glanced at the time on his watch. “Theres no point in going back to Lehigh, Peggy’s at home now. Where do you guys want to go to head back?” He asked, and Bucky pointed towards a small clump of trees in a park. Steve nodded, and pulled over. 

You walked up to Steve while Bucky got his tired body out of the car. “Thank you for helping us. I’m sorry for what I said.” You admitted, and Steve smiled.

“Don’t be. I needed to hear it. I was incredibly selfish, and I should have stayed with him. But, thank you for helping him.” He said, and you nodded. He gave you a hug, and you walked towards the trees to allow Bucky and Steve to say goodbye. They talked a little, shared a laugh, and hugged. Steve walked over to where you were standing. 

“Come back whenever you guys want to. I’d visit you, but that’s not my time anymore. Plus I don't have a suit or a GPS. I’d probably end up in the Sokovia fight again if I tried.” He said, and you and Bucky laughed. 

“We will. I know the fairs coming up soon, so maybe we’ll come back then?” Bucky asked and Steve nodded. They shared a smile again, and Steve watched as the two of you tapped your bracelets, the nanotech covered you and programmed your GPS’s. You waved at Steve, and he waved back. Bucky nodded at him, which Steve returned at the two of you locked eyes as you felt that familiar pull behind your navel, and your were thrust into the quantum realm again. 

You returned to 2024 seconds later, and glanced around at the untouched compound, and Tony’s desk, which was completely fine. Bucky looked around in confusion.

“What happened? Wasn’t it only a few seconds here? Why is everything fixed?” Bucky asked and you smiled.

“The chronological timeline where we were attacked was erased by us when we destroyed the particles, so the attack never happened.” 

Bucky nodded, before scooping you up and carrying you into the living room. “Good. Now, let’s finish the movie, and maybe have a quickie before Sam gets back.” Bucky said, sitting on the couch, and lifting your shirt over your head. 

You laughed, but agreed. “Sounds like a plan.” 

[sweettodo]

LMFAO- can u headcannon the aot warriors + y/n in a zoom meeting. and y’know y/n a little baddie and wears a revealing outfit 😩😏

i just saw this tiktok of some fanart of them in a zoom meet and it was the cutest thing EVERRRR.

EREN-

• doesn’t even bother to get out of bed, he just rolls over, picks his laptop from the floor and joins the zoom only to fall back asleep.

• levi constantly attempts to get his attention, and eren doesn’t even budge.

• seldom awake, but when he IS, he will usually interrupt to ask a stupid question: ‘hange where did you get that cool plant?’ or ‘jean i smell you through the zoom call, did you shower today?’

• enjoys changing his background to an odd photo of jean or one of his friends.

• hange will be the first to kick eren out of the zoom, and it’s not like mr. jaeger cares or anything.

• not to mention, he leaves his camera on too. so everyone sees shirtless eren passed out under the blankets with not a regard in the world.

• eats while on the call.

• one day, ( he still thanks god he was awake to see this ) you were working out in the morning before realizing you were already 10 minutes late to your meeting.

• jumping on to the meeting, sweaty, in a revealing sports bra and shorts, you’re apologizing profusely to levi and hange for being late.

• ‘lookin’ good y/n’ eren cackles, but what you or your friends realizing was that eren was now breathless, trying not to stare at you with every bit of will-power he could muster up.

• ‘seems that eren’s pretty awake now, heh’ jean taunts, eren quickly turns off his camera, so he could enjoy looking at you, who decided to wear... that

JEAN-

~ also likes to change his background, plays on his xbox with or without connie, headphones on his head and screaming while levi is muting jean to proceed talking.

~ jean has the pc set up and everything with the two monitors and the colorful custom pc.

~ eren makes fun of him because he uses a microphone. like the ones that have the stand and everything.

~ his room is never fully lit. he used leds, ( blue or green tbh ) shades are always closed.

~ ‘jean, turn off the game. now’ hange swears she tells him everyday.

~ ‘hey jean, didn’t you wear that sweatshirt last time? do you have any other clothes?’ eren ridicules, of course interrupting levi, who’s talking.

~ ‘i see the crumbs on your bed, jaeger!’

~ jean finds himself staring at you once you joined the call, wearing a... revealing... tank top with a very generous bra. his mouth growing increasingly dry.

~ he assumes that no one seems to notice, but when his friends see that he’s quite literally frozen in place, mouth slightly open as he’s looking at your chest.

~ ‘jean’

~ no answer.

~ ‘jean!’

~ ‘hu- yeah, yes?’

~ ‘is your internet having issues? you’re frozen’

MIKASA-

: sits at her desk, she has a picture collage of her, eren and armin on her wall.

: pristine white walls, very clean.

: always needs to call eren to wake him up before the meeting so he doesn’t miss it.

: if she forgets to call eren to wake him up, he blames her for missing the meeting.

: mikasa and armin are always firsts to the meeting.

: she always speaks, and fully participates.

: levi and hange usually are apt to call on her first for her opinions.

: she never turns her camera off, she’s wearing a comfortable but appropriate outfit, jeans and a blouse or shorts and a t shirt.

: sends group emails, for literally whatever reason.

: compliments others backgrounds ( their rooms ).

: reminds eren that his room is a pigsty and he needs to get out of bed, ‘eren, it’s 11:30am, get up.’

: ‘jean, you need to make your bed once and awhile’

: she always compliments what you’re wearing too, ‘i love that top y/n, where’d you get it?’

: and will have absolutely no problem with putting the boys in their place when she catches them gawking at you.

: ‘you guys are like dogs’

: she tells levi to kick them from the meet if they keep staring at you.

ARMIN-

∘ always early.

∘ room is neat, warm looking and he sits on the edge of his bed with his laptop in his lap.

∘ most talkative one here besides levi and hange.

∘ also calls eren every morning to ensure he’s awake.

∘ armin has a notebook and pencil next to him, constantly writing down notes.

∘ always has a presentation ready, a powerpoint or a document to show everyone.

∘ usually sticks to casual, t shirt and jeans.

∘ room is well lit, camera and mic are always on.

∘ also reminds the others to pay attention and be quiet, pleading with them, ‘guys, captain levi is trying to talk.’ also always lectures eren to get out of bed once and awhile.

∘ he doesn’t really pay much attention to what the others are wearing, but he can’t help but glance a few times at your outfit for the day.

∘ it makes his heart pound of his chest when you move to stretch or prop for hand under your chin to listen, your chest on display, arms squeezing them together only a little. he was in awe, swallowing hard and trying not to blush.

∘ avoiding you at all costs.

∘ armin won’t admit it, but he’s a hypocrite, so he’s gonna lecture the boys not to objectify you and tells you that he’s sorry for their immaturity.

∘ but yet here he is.

LEVI-

» cup of tea ready.

» sits at his dining room table.

» dreads having to do the zoom meet, so he’s pretty short tempered the whole time.

» wearing a button up per usual.

» well lit, has a plant in the corner of the room, most likely a cat in the windowsill.

» very english teacher-esque.

» swears the whole time at eren.

» kicks eren and jean out almost every zoom meeting.

» relies on armin for detailed information and analysis’

» needed to ask hange in secret how to present his screen, pin / mute people because he was pretty inept at computers for the most part.

» doesn’t use the mouse pad on his laptop, he connects a mouse because he despises that stupid mouse pad.

» the second he sees what you’re wearing, he shakes his head, ‘tch, i can hear these hounds now’

» yells at the boys to stop being perverts.

CONNIE-

‣  similar to jean, he also used led’s most of the time.

‣  has posters on his walls of music artists, shows, games and people

‣  he sits at his desk, which is cluttered, occasionally plays video games ( not as much as jean )

‣  zones out, looking at something random and blocks out a lot of what hange and levi says.

‣  yawns like 80 times in the span of an hour.

‣  drinks soda, or surfs the web.

‣  his bed is made, and he wears sweatshirts and sweats because like eren, he just got out of bed too.

‣  though connies bed is made, he still has clothes littered here and there, has a rack of shoes in the corner of his room ( he’s a sneaker head )

‣  most likely to not turn his camera on because he leaves the room to do god knows what.

‣  plays imessage games during the call.

‣  teases eren constantly.

‣  he won’t be AS dog-ish when he sees what you’re wearing, but he will say to himself, ‘she has some pretty nice tits’ and will probably text jean saying exactly that. but then he just moved on with his day.

‣  presents memes before the meeting to try and get levi to laugh. it doesn’t work.

HANGE-

≈ shes on her couch.

≈ wears casual outfits.

≈ ushers the boys to participate.

≈ very upbeat and happy.

≈ first person to make an interactive slideshow to get everyone to participate.

≈ shes into sending levi cat memes.

≈ has a cup of coffee next to her, plants and pictures of plants on her wall.

≈ likes to unmute people purposely if their mic is muted.

≈ emails back and fourth with armin and levi for plans for the upcoming meetings.

≈ she will not tolerate anyone disrespecting one another. kicking the boys out to stop them from harassing you about what you’re wearing.

HISORIA-

‹ her room is like a oasis, pastel walls, the vines on her walls and everything.

‹ diffuser in the background and incense.

‹ shes drinking coffee, always dressed, makeup on ( if she chooses to wear it ) and she attends these meetings on her laptop, sitting in front of her vanity.

‹ wears pretty blouses, or a summery dress, hair always fixed to perfection.

‹ sometimes her mom comes in, with cut up fruit and ice water, giving it to her and then leaving.

‹ she has framed pictures of her and everyone on her wall.

‹ also has honor roll certificates on her wall.

‹ she makes sure her vanity light is on so she has good lighting.

‹ also takes notes- color coordinating notes.

‹ she does participate, she laughs at the boys when they act up.

‹ also compliments everyone.

‹ when she catches the boys looking at you, she tells levi to make them knock it off, and then shakes her head in disappointment, ‘you all are so weird, leave y/n alone, you’re making her uncomfortable’

YMIR-

≍ shes usually propped up on her side, laying on her bed or the couch.

≍ she doesn’t participate unless she’s chosen to.

≍ keeps quiet, pays good attention.

≍ she sticks to wearing a sweatshirt and shorts or just a t shirt and leggings.

≍ clean room, warm blue sheets and gray walls.

≍ she gets furious when jean and eren go at it.

≍ shes gonna defend you against the boys pertaining to what you’re wearing, saying, ‘take your dirty eyes off of her’

≍ she doesn’t mind what you’re wearing, she thinks you look really good, but you wouldn’t catch her dead making a comment on your body.

≍ won’t admit it but it makes her flustered seeing how your body looks.

SASHA-

⇝ sits at her kitchen table.

⇝ eating full meals while the meeting takes place.

⇝ doesn’t hesitate to talk when her mouth is full so levi keeps her muted.

⇝ house is very home-y, warm and decorated well, her kitchen is seen in the background with her mom or dad occasionally walking past.

⇝ sometimes asking her mom to make her another sandwich, ( after her third one ).

⇝ always laughing with connie and jean.

⇝ sticks to casual outfits, sweatshirt and leggings, hair always up.

⇝ no filter, so if she catches eren or jean looking at you, she’s gonna jump into action.

⇝ ‘i know you’re not looking at her like that!’

⇝ ‘you better stop looking at her before i go over there!’

⇝ ‘captain if you don’t kick these fools out right now i’ll go over there and kick their asses instead!’

[zosonils-art]

Do you have a robot master OC (of the eight plus Drum) that you’d say is your favorite? If you haven’t done an infodump for them yet then you should do that one next

i couldn't choose a favourite if i tried, i love them all, but since you mentioned drum i thought i'd give her some new art and a proper dedicated post too! infodrump [ayyy] under the cut

drum, serial number SWN-002, is my take on the popular [????? i'm still a bit of a mega man fandom newbie i don't know hjdfn] 'wily equivalent to roll' oc template! she keeps things running at the various castles and fortresses and hideouts and whatever else her dad holes up in, whether that's by doing housework, planning schemes, or dodging taxes. whenever wily is trying to take over the world, drum acts as his second-in-command, ensuring that everything goes according to plan and ordering around the latest group of robot masters

she's every bit the edgy mid-00s teenager she looks: sarcastic, apathetic, and always talking back to her dad. she's more obedient than bass is, but she doesn't care for her job at all and will resort to any flimsy excuse or act of malicious compliance she can come up with to slack off. due to her purpose as an organiser and commander, she's a bossy control freak who's quick to anger when things don't go exactly her way, although when she's off work the worst of these traits recede in favour of more conventional teenage apathy. she sees herself as above the time and effort it takes to go out of her way to be mean to people like wily and bass tend to do, but she's equally uninterested in being nice on purpose and her default attitude is squarely on the nastier side

when she doesn't have work to focus on - and sometimes when she does anyway - drum is the lead vocalist and guitarist in a garage band, of which she is [currently - a friend's ocs get involved later, but that's a whole different post] the only member. i'm not good with music terms but she's into whatever genre stuff like wake me up inside and crawling in my skin is [i know those aren't the names hdfjf it's just the words i know people will recognise]. the sort with the crunchy guitar and the very loud lyrics about being sad and/or angry. playing or blasting music helps her to calm down when she's in a bad mood, which is pretty much all the time. the first warning sign of a new wily plot is a spike in search popularity for my chemical romance

i haven't gotten around to designing it, but drum has a non-armoured form like most of the other more explicitly kid-like robots, which she mostly uses for loitering around malls when she has an excuse to not be at home. she rarely buys anything, just hangs out and radiates an aura that makes suburban white women hurry their three kids into the next shop. drum often ends up hanging out with like-minded teens in the same vague area of the goth/punk/emo venn diagram she occupies, and makes a bit of a game out of seeing how honest she can be about her life without revealing that she's one of the world's most wanted robots. she tells herself that it's just something she does out of boredom and curiosity towards humans, but it mostly stems from loneliness and the desire to have literally any friends that aren't her brother's dog

as a sort of contrast to the healthy and positive relationship between their lightbot counterparts, drum and bass absolutely DESPISE each other and make no secret of it. each of them thinks of the other as an insufferable prick and they'll get into petty arguments over just about anything, from whose turn it is on the xbox to who treble loves more. [for the record, it's drum. she lets him hang out in the kitchen while she's cooking and sneaks him food scraps when bass isn't looking. he's the only family member she has an even remotely positive relationship with.] pretty much the only thing that can get them to stop fighting is mutual hatred of a bigger prick, and so far the only person to consistently get them to put their differences aside like this is wily himself - as much as the wily kids hate each other, they hate their dad just a little more, and have a history of teaming up just to mess with him. sometimes mega man can spark that spiteful cooperation, but drum's total apathy towards the light-wily family rivalry means she usually sees him as not worth her time and just finds bass' obsession with beating him even more annoying

drum wasn't made for combat, and as such she doesn't have a signature weapon or any fancy tricks like the copy chip. usually she just orders other robots to do the fighting for her. however, she is equipped with a standard arm-mounted buster, and can hold her own in battle with a 'fight smarter, not harder' approach if she has to. she's also outfitted with the same treble adapter that bass has, so if she's backed into a corner she can call on him for a power boost. treble is capable of supporting both adapters simultaneously, so as an absolute last resort they can all combine into treble-boosted drum & bass, who theoretically has all the combat power of bass plus the strategic thinking from drum and the boost in power from treble. in practice, though, drum and bass are so at odds with each other that they can barely hold together in the same body without either fighting for control or outright splitting apart to argue harder. again, it takes a lot of spite to get them to work together, but if something draws their combined ire and convinces them to cooperate they're an utterly terrifying force to be reckoned with

the game idea i vaguely have in my mind would feature drum as the final-not-final boss before wily reveals he was the mastermind behind it all and surprises absolutely nobody. she was put in charge of the latest world domination attempt, probably as the result of a 'why don't YOU take over the world if you're so smart' conversation, and in true drum fashion she follows a standard wily plot outline to the letter - including the blatant flaws, like all eight of her chosen robot masters forming a rock-paper-scissors wheel just begging to be exploited by the copy chip, and making a clear path from just outside the death fortress to her base of operations. after she's defeated in combat, she sarcasically wonders aloud how mega man could have possibly bested her plan and then helpfully points rock directly to wily's castle. she didn't wanna do the stupid scheme in the first place

again, i love all my ocs too much to possibly choose a favourite, but i'd say drum was the most fun to come up with if only because i had the help of some mates in a discord server. someone was like 'hey if there's bass is there a roll equivalent called drum or something lol' and i SPRINTED to microsoft paint to rough out a character design and the next entire day was just a constant stream of all of us bouncing ideas off each other and creating the meanest girl in the universe. her design changed a little bit from the initial sketch, most notably she used to have the half-shaved hairstyle that every gay person tries at some point before that changed to a midpoint between phoenix wright and sonic the hedgehog, but overall everything about her as a character flowed really well from the start. while she's fallen mostly into my hands since the initial brainstorm, she absolutely wouldn't exist without those friends' input and i feel that that's important to mention!

i'm very tired and i've been working on this on and off for the past day so i'm gonna call the infodrump finished here - thanks for giving me the excuse to talk about her! unfiltered and transparent versions of the art below as always

[themadhatterofficial]

Eyes, Bodies, and Potions

The Golden Trio was always meant to take down Voldemort.

Perhaps, if things happened a bit differently, if the pieces managed to link together in another way...

(Dark Golden Trio AU)

********************

Harry Potter only knew violence growing up.

The young boy hidden away in the cupboard under the stairs would sit in fear and anticipation as heavy footsteps pounded above and rattled the dust onto his tiny bed. He had a single mirror in his cupboard that Aunt Petunia had given him as a Christmas present after his uncle had slammed his head into it hard enough to cause cracks to run through it like an overzealous spiderweb.

No matter how many times he tried to avoid it, Harry always ended up watching himself in the dingy glass. In anything remotely reflective, really.

Everywhere Harry went, people commented on his eyes. On how pretty they were, how they made him look respectable, how much they stood out against the darkness of his skin and the heavy bangs that resembled a rat's nest at the best of times.

It had jump started Harry's obsession.

Everywhere he went, Harry would stare at eyes. Brown ones, blue ones, grey ones, green ones, and every mix you could think of. He liked the emotions that ran through them, how they told stories that faces and bodies would never reveal.

He could see the happiness when a couple held hands.

He could see the fear when a man gripped his girlfriend's arm a little too tight.

He could see the joy in a father's eyes when his baby snuggled further into his neck.

The fear was nice sometimes. When it was someone who deserved it. Like when Dudley's friend Henry punched Harry hard enough to take out his baby tooth and split his lip. Harry had launched forward and kept hitting and hitting and hitting until Henry was crying too hard to make noise and he was covered in reds and blues that never blossomed on Harry's deep skin.

(Henry's eyes were grey. They were scared. It was nice.)

(Henry's parents also moved their whole family far away from the neighborhood the very next week. Harry chalked it up to coincidence.)

Harry liked the happiness a lot more than the sad or scared ones. He liked sitting in the little park far from the Dursleys' and letting the long cuffs of his torn hand-me-downs scrape below the swing, watching the happy families laugh and jump and run around with one another without caring about anything else.

For as long as Harry could remember, he had wanted that. He longed for it. He would sit in his tiny cupboard on the last night of July and beg and plead whoever was up there for someone to find him. At first, Harry wished for someone to take him away. Now, Harry would be content with someone approaching him to just talk. It was a far-fetched dream, something he only dared to dream of in the quiet darkness when he pretended that his parents weren't worthless drunks who cared for the bottle more than their son. That he had a mother that took the time to tame his bird's nest of a head and read to him at night, that he had a father who taught him how to play chess and cook breakfast for his mum in bed, and maybe even an uncle that bought him secret ice creams that ruined his dinner and taught him how to talk to pretty girls at school and maybe even a sister who laughed too loud and grinned too wide and let him wrap her up in soft blankets when she was too cold to ask for it.

But for now, Harry would settle for their eyes.

********************

Ron Weasley, in Ron Weasley's opinion, was not very special.

He was the sixth child of seven in his impoverished family. He got hand-me-down everything, and was expected to do as well as his brothers, if not better. It was nothing special if he could do this, because Percy could too, and if he could do that, well, Bill already had years before.

Sometimes Ron wished he was an only child, if only for the attention he would have.

(He never wanted his siblings dead, Merlin no. He loved them all and wished them the best, even if he was a bit jealous of them.)

Perhaps this was why he was often seen hanging on Harry or Hermione's arm, spending every bit of his free time with the first things that were his, and only his.

They weren't things, and Ron knew this. He knew that they were people, and he knew that they were their own people. He never claimed them aloud, and especially didn't hint at it to Harry. He was already treated like a Thing by his muggles. They locked him away and took him out when he was of use. Ron wanted to be with him all the time, even when he didn't listen and remained as stubborn as an ass.

But they were still Ron's. He didn't like when Fred or George or Ginny would try to covet Harry's attention, or tease Hermione until all the blood rushed up to darken her cheeks to a deep blue. She would hide behind her massive hair that curled around her wildly in a way that she wasn't.

Later, Hermione would shyly admit that she'd never felt wanted, and that she quite liked the way Harry and Ron so openly expressed their need for her. Harry would say the same.

Ron Weasley liked watching people.

He saw everything he needed to from a distance, even if he wanted to get closer. He liked watching quidditch especially, how their bodies moved so gracefully and held no hesitation in their gestures. (This did not extend to his brothers and sister. He actually didn't like watching them in particular, even if he could never pry his eyes away from Harry twisting and turning and reaching as far as he could.)

Every quidditch match was exciting. Ron would emulate certain things, ever since he could remember. Bill's easy-going swagger. Charlie's big hand movements. Percy's chin tilt he did when he was trying to make a point, or the seamless weaving and bobbing Fred and George had mastered together. He'd mostly out grown it before Ginny came along, but sometimes he even ran his hand through his hair like she did. His dad did it, and it was a small thing the three of them shared, and Ron coveted it.

The most ingrained thing about Ron was probably his tactile nature. His mum was the same way. They were probably the most expressive, always ready to give out a hug and kiss on the cheek or just to hold someone.

This came in handy later in life.

Hermione likes to stand on her toes.

It's a small thing that he's sure she isn't really aware of. She'd mentioned offhandedly that her parents had forced her to do ballet when Ron mentioned it, and it became more and more clear. When she stretched she pointed her toes perfectly, and when she turned to speak she'd often spin around on the tips of her feet. It was endearing, especially even when she went on her long winded tangents about anything and everything.

When she talked, her smile lit up the room and her hands flitted about excitedly. When she saw something that caught her eye, Hermione would stretch out her neck and raise her eyebrows high into her uneven bangs.

Hermione was also very awkward. She hid behind her big kinky curls, which Ron soon learned were in that weird frizzy stage because of repeated failed attempts at straightening it. (He quite liked her hair just the way it was, but Hermione didn't, which was disappointing.) Ron would shake his head and teasingly pull on one of her coils so it bounced tightly. She would flush, and when they first met she absolutely despised it. It wasn't until they'd known each other for so long that she would allow him to do so. He was the only one other than Harry that was allowed. Soon after she began to grow comfortable with his casual touches.

So when she would awkwardly put her hand forward to shake Ron's, he would push it away in order to wrap her up tightly in his arms. She'd tense at first before hugging back tentatively, then tightly, as if she never wanted him to let her go.

Harry tugs at his sleeves when he gets nervous.

He does it a lot, actually. When they ride up, he pulls the cuffs down to grip in his palms.

When adults speak to him, he squeezes himself inward to make himself smaller. When they raise their voices, his head drops down ever so slightly, as if it's an instinct he's trying to fight. When they get too close, his body twitches away as if it has a mind of its own.

Ron soon noticed that Harry couldn't handle yelling. Ron and Hermione began to fight about Merlin-knows-what one night by the lake. It wasn't until Ron's voice was slightly hoarse and he paused to take a breath that he remembered that Harry was still there. He was sitting on the damp grass, completely still with his hands muffling his ears and his head tucked between his knees.

Ron always warns Harry before reaching to him. Always asks if its okay. It's soon obvious to Ron that no one has truly hugged Harry, and does so whenever he has the chance. And Harry absolutely clings onto Ron, which is really nice. No one's really done that. His siblings weren't always the touchy-type and his parents were always too busy with this or that to dedicate so much time to the Least Favorite.

(Ron knew that they loved him. He never doubted that. But he was nothing if not a realist.)

But Ron's favorite thing was when Harry would jump on him. Harry never talked much unless one prompted him endlessly, and it was even rarer for him to initiate a conversation or reach out for anyone or anything. So when Harry would get so excited he tackle-hugged Ron into the grass or the floor of the common room, and Hermione would burst into giggles beside them, he'd feel his heart burst open for these two people that truly appreciated him.

Watching people fall was pretty fascinating.

Their bodies would turn and prepare for the inevitable, bracing in fear before the impact came.

They showed something real, in those moments. The shock, the resignation, pure, unadulterated fear that overtook their entire bodies dominated Ron's attention when it happened. And when the fear happened, he saw who they were. How one handles the fear, the harsh reality ready to break their nose it, shows who they truly are.

When Hermione fell into the Devil's Snare, and Ron and Harry were stuck in the stage of fear, he could see Hermione's brain turn over. He saw the way she went straight from the fear to the calm determination of someone who was not ready for the end. He could see the clear fuck you on her face before she sunk below the vines.

When Harry's broom began to shake and throw him off in a violent rage, Ron saw the fear. He saw the clear fear outline every bone of his body before his grip tightened and his body swung upwards. He could see the resignation, and he could see the acceptance of what would happen. But that wasn't standing out as much as the look that overtook his entire face. He could hear it from the stands, the way he was telling himself - not without a fight.

Ron quite liked the fear. He liked seeing them panic and squirm. He liked knowing who they were, if only for a moment.

When he punched Goyle in the face, he saw it. When he beat him over and over in the empty corridor, Ron knew. He didn't have that fight in him, the way his best friends do. He was pitiful, really. Ron felt no sympathy afterwards, merely watched as the larger boy scrambled away bloody and terrified.

And later, when Ron let Harry bandage his knuckles in a way that no eleven year old should be able to do with such ease, he watched the blood swirl down the drain with morbid fascination.

His knuckles were swollen and bruised, and Harry was endlessly careful with them.

Goyle had gotten a good punch in, and Hermione's hand flitted around his cheek worriedly for a good two minutes before calming down.

And the next day, when Goyle's bruises were yellow with some kind of accelerated healing potion, Ron was quite disappointed that the colors had left so quickly. He felt put-out, robbed even, of the satisfaction he'd wanted. That he'd earned.

But when their eyes met, and Goyle flinched to look down with shameful fear, Ron decided that he could settle for that.

********************

Hermione Granger had always been a smart girl. It was something she had always prided herself in. Top of her class, always on time, always perfect.

Her parents had made sure of that. The Grangers would not permit their only child to fail. They refused to have a fuck up for a daughter. It would disgrace them beyond belief, leaving the family humiliated and shame-faced for all of the world to see.

Hermione Granger was used to the low expectations. She had long since grown accustomed to people looking down on her. From her buck teeth, to dark skin, to her frizzy hair, not many expected much from her.

They were proper people, the Grangers. Practical and no-nonsense types that expected their child to achieve a level of success that they were never able to reach.

So it was quite a shock when one day a severe-looking woman appeared on their doorstep in a tall pointy hat and bright green bathrobe that smelled faintly of cat treats.

Hermione had had an inkling about the magic. Strange occurrences, things that logic simply could not explain.

"It snowed once," she had murmured under her breath.

The three adults stopped their snapping, which had been quickly escalating into a fully-blown argument, to look towards the girl.

"What was that?" the professor had sniped quickly.

Hermione looked towards her parents, their lips pressed together tensely as they stared down their daughter through narrowed eyes.

"It snowed," Hermione'd said a bit more clearly. "When... when I read Narnia." She barely kept from flinching when her mother's fist clenched at the mention of one of those horrid fairy tales, but Hermione looked down and twisted her lips from side to side.

"Why is that?" the woman had asked a touch less harshly.

"In the story the kids went through a wardrobe and found a place where it snowed all year round. I just wanted to visit somewhere... somewhere different. Like..."

When Hermione made no effort to finish the professor made the effort to kneel before her to match their heights.

And slowly, the professor's lips began to pull up ever so slightly into an encouraging (and slightly conspiratorial) smile. "Somewhere magical?"

"Yes," Hermione had breathed out emphatically, nodding her head so vigorously that the beads in her weighty braids clanked together loudly enough to echo around the silent room.

"Well, I think that I may be able to make that happen."

To be entirely truthful, Hermione didn't much like school.

She loved learning. She had always loved learning. It was her favorite thing in the whole world. But the pressure, both from the school and her family, made Hermione want to tear her hair out until there was nothing left. Her parents were terrible about it. They monitored her grades as closely as humanly possible. And it was't enough to just do good, or great, or perfect. She had to be better than everyone in anything and everything she did.

Hermione had done ballet when she was little. It wan't her favorite thing in the world, but it had been fun.

But she wasn't The Best.

So her parents made her quit.

Harry and Ron were different than most.

They were her friends. Her real friends. Most people sneered at her in class when her hand always shot up and she jumped at the chance to answer every question she could and fight to be the first one to demonstrate how much better she was than them. (There had been a period of time where Hermione had stopped doing so. Her parents found out. She began raising her hand again.)

Her boys sometimes did that. When Hermione got overexcited and cut off the teacher Harry would sometimes hide his face with his hand or Ron would groan and roll his eyes. But the second someone else said something to her, they would jump at the chance to defend her and take no prisoners.

The three of them were family. A real family. Not like at home where dinner was tense and silent while Hermione's father picked apart every single sentence of her school progress reports, or when Harry would talk about his relatives in quivering whispers before quickly changing the subject before they could ask about his over-sized clothing and the gruesome pattern of raised skin on his arms.

Hermione laughed more with them in her first year at Hogwarts than she ever had in her entire existence. While Harry had a strange kind of gasping laugh that she could hardly distinguish between joy or pain, Ron's was full-bodied and bright. But they were both amazing. They sounded happy. Safe. Kind of like home.

She had never been so happy in her life.

Hermione loved magic.

It had a strange set of rules to it. Strange. Different. But soon enough, Hermione understood it.

Her favorite was potions. There was a definitive way to it, logic that was always followed. Hermione could follow a method and it would be perfect. Action and reaction. That was all it was. Action and reaction. Action and reaction.

(Snape was obviously terrible. He made her face burn and tears spring to her eyes. But she couldn't stop raising her hand or jumping in to answer questions. She just couldn't. If it got back to her parents it would be a thousand times worse than anything Snape could ever do to her.)

But outside of the classroom, Hermione fell in love with the method of potion-making. It was soothing and gentle and welcoming and just so perfect for her. Outside of the dankness of the dungeons and the harsh bearing of Severus Snape's beady black eyes, Hermione Granger sat in the sunlight of the second floor girls' lavatory and created masterpieces. She used her tools to create art. From potions of brilliant greens to velvety purples to bright blues so clear that she could see the bottom of the cauldron through. It was stunningly beautiful. And it took her breath away.

But she wasn't The Best.

(not yet, at least)

It was early on a Saturday morning.

The sun streamed through the tall window of the second floor girls' lavatory and landed on Hermione and her cauldron at the perfect angle. It was a potion recipe that Harry had found in the restricted section and given to her. (Normally, Hermione would never condone breaking rules. At school, no less. But this was a Special Circumstance.) It caused the consumer's heart to beat so fast that the blood couldn't make it through the arteries quickly enough, causing them them to clog and trigger a heart attack.

Hermione hadn't planned on actually giving it to anyone. It would be disgustingly terrible. To cause someone's death...

But then, the colors were so pretty. Swirling pinks and purples moving like waves crashing upon the sand, splashing against the sides of the cauldron of their own accord. Her eyes traced their movements, transfixed into a deep state of pure calm.

She didn't even notice when some of it had splashed up over the lip of the cauldron. It landed on the tiles with a decisive plink that echoed in the silence.

Hermione hadn't seen the rat until it was too late. She watched in horror as the small rodent moved towards the spilled potion, sniffing at it before licking hesitantly.

Before she could yell for it to stop, the rat began to convulse on the dirty floor. Hermione could do nothing but watch as the poor thing's body shook violently, squealing pathetically and rolling around in excruciating pain.

And then the blood.

There was so much in its tiny body. It was actually quite shocking. Spilling from everywhere from its eyes to its mouth to its ears. It was a horror scene - party of one.

Hermione wanted it to stop. She wanted to save the little rat. It was cruel and unkind and unfair and...

Disgustingly beautiful.

The vividness of its blood threw her off. It was smooth and thick, running through the grooves of the tiles in gentle rivulets akin to that of the rivers that carved through the Forest of Dean.

It was very different to see this kind of pain tearing its course through something. It felt almost satisfying to watch. Like she was seeing her own pain manifest itself within a tiny conductor, forcing everything inside of her inside of it.

And it was Hermione that was doing it. Hermione's potion. Her own knowledge and power transferring into another living breathing thing, wreaking its havoc as it went.

Action and reaction.

Sometimes Hermione would watch others in school with the same lens that she had watched that rat. She would bore holes through the side of Pansy Parkinson's head or clench her hands to avoid tilting the entirety of her scalding potion down the back of Professor Snape's robes during class.

(She would fantasize about it. Sometimes Hermione felt like a monster for doing so, but then she would look at Ron when he dug his fingertips into the desk and glare at Draco Malfoy with a barely concealed type of rage that she Knew meant that they were the same.)

(Harry was a little different. He didn't always have that kind of rage inside of him. But he would watch when Ron would fight others, untamed and wild in every aspect. And it would glimmer behind the vibrant green of his irises that Hermione had yet to recreate with one of her potions.)

Hermione wanted to do it. She wanted to drip just the littlest bit of her art onto their wrists. Just a drop. She wanted to watch their skin shrivel and burn, eaten away by the nature of her poison. She wanted to hear them scream. She wanted them to feel what she feels, if only for a bit. She wanted to paint with their blood, tracing sigils of old into her skin and practicing the kind of magic that would have her mother fainting on the front lawn and her father puking into the ugly orange tulips tracing the stark white walls of her pretty little muggle home.

But for now, she'd have to settle for the rats haunting the bathroom floor.