#so used to only using people as stepping stones for his research

[wri0thesley]

i think it might be sickeningly-in-love-and-lust and not sure how to deal with it dottore hours

[wizardnuke]

the shadowgast pacific rim au that exists in my brain.

[starcurtain]

2.1 Penacony Spoilers!

I know the scene after Ratio's "betrayal" can be read a lot of ways but I am shocked I haven't seen more people interpret it as Ratio being so worried about Aventurine that he couldn't stay away even though he was supposed to.

We know:

1) Ratio absolutely knew Aventurine's plan from start to finish, both his gamble to create "death" in the dream and with the three cornerstones. (Wish people would stop underselling Ratio in their analyses; "Three chips are enough" is a direct enough clue that, genius as he is, Ratio would never miss.)

2) In his own words, Ratio was acting according to Aventurine's instructions while in Dewlight Pavilion and with Sunday and felt that he did a good job not giving them away.

I think most people are on the same page up to there, but then I've seen a lot of people interpreting this scene after Aventurine leaves Sunday's mansion as Aventurine being genuinely angry at Ratio (possibly after having gaslit himself into thinking Ratio was actually betraying him).

But this doesn't make much sense to me because:

1) Ratio actually has nothing to gain by selling Aventurine out to Sunday. They're on the same side in this mission. Information about a Stelleron on Penacony wouldn't be news anyone with a brain like Ratio's and why would he need someone else's research on Stellerons when he already has ties to the Genius Society through Screwllum and Herta, as well as the Astral Express where the Trailblazer is actively housing a Stelleron?

2) One of Aventurine's most notable lines of dialogue is how it's perfectly fine and expected for "friends" to use each other and backstab. This is his default understanding of partners--why would he suddenly be mad about something he expected from the start?

3) If the betrayal wasn't already planned and was just a possibility based on Aventurine's understanding of Ratio, why would he ever have revealed there were "three chips" (aka three cornerstones) in play? If even the betrayal over Topaz's stone wasn't planned, just assumed, why would Aventurine reveal the existence of the third stone? He would gain nothing from doing so.

Instead, I think it makes a lot more sense to interpret Aventurine's frustration with Ratio in this later scene as annoyance over Ratio taking an "unnecessary" risk:

1) As far as Sunday knows, Ratio had just very seriously betrayed Aventurine, completely selling him out and essentially sending him to his execution.

2) In the scene afterward, Aventurine is out in public in the middle of Penacony where The Family's eyes are always watching, yet Ratio walks right up to him to check on him. Why would someone who just sold you out come up to you immediately afterward to check on your health?!

3) It's only natural that Aventurine would pump the brakes and go "Wow, didn't think you'd show yourself after you just betrayed me, remember?" Because that's the act they are supposed to be keeping up! They're still being monitored; it's not safe to break character!

But Ratio is a genius, right, so why would he break character here? From the standpoint of the ploy itself, revealing to the Family that he and Aventurine were still on the same side would only jeopardize the plan, not help it.

The logical explanation, then, is that Ratio went to Aventurine here because he felt like he had to.

He had to check in and make sure the situation was still under Aventurine's control.

(In fact, the entire exchange through the middle of this scene is Aventurine and Ratio confirming the rest of their plot in a veiled manner: Ratio brings up the plan and mentions what's concealed in the gift money bag, Aventurine confirms the cornerstone is good to go; Ratio asks what his next step will be; Aventurine says he's going to do the insane thing of handing out cash while looking pathetic [aka fishing for Sparkle]. Ratio essentially asks if he's crazy enough to take the final gamble with his own life, which Aventurine confirms, and then Ratio sets them up for the finale by gifting him the doctor's note.)

Ratio was willing to risk ruining their entire plan--something Aventurine does seem to be frustrated about at first--just to ensure Aventurine still felt all right about the situation.

He needed to deliver his note demanding Aventurine stay alive.

He needed to tell Aventurine to come to him if the situation got too painful to bear.

In short, Ratio was worried enough that he could not stay away even though, for the sake of their plot, it would have made significantly more sense for him not to appear. The gain of breaking character was worth more to him than the risk of being caught.

You honestly don't even have to take this in a shipping context. The real point here is that Ratio is an incredibly good person who wasn't okay with Aventurine's self-sacrificial plan and who felt morally compelled to check on a person in pain. He's a healer through and through, and ignoring Aventurine in this condition--ignoring someone who was taking so much risk on themselves--simply wasn't possible for him, no matter the danger it posed to the plan.

But for those who do ship Ratio and Aventurine... I hope more people will come to see this scene as another example of Ratio's genuine concern for his mission partner! He did not have to appear here at all; it would have made much more sense for him to leave Aventurine to his own devices to uphold the illusion of their "betrayal." He showed up in this scene--very likely against Aventurine's expectations--because he was concerned for Aventurine's situation and wanted to ensure Aventurine knew he could fall back on Ratio's support at any time if the plan went awry.

tl;dr: I wish people would stop interpreting this scene as the aftermath of a betrayal. Aventurine wasn't ticked off with Ratio in this scene because he felt like he'd genuinely been backstabbed; he was ticked off because Ratio was literally breaking their pre-established "betrayer" character just to be fussy over Aventurine's safety and well-being. (Okay, and to double check on the plan, but let's be real, the first part was definitely more important. 👌)

[pr0cyon-lotor]

AU where Shen Yuan is transmigrated into the beast taming peak's head disciple that looks absolutely nothing like him (obviously not named sy but for clarity sake I'm saying Shen Yuan) when Shen Jiu comes in. He's barely paying attention to the beef this scrawny teenager has with him because he's too focused on hating his reflection because his body feels wrong and his mind is telling him his body is wrong (body dysphoria)

He just avoids mirrors and learns how to get ready without looking at his reflection. He's in a constant state of panic because his body feels wrong and he knows it's wrong.

And through accidents and pure vibes he gets Shen Jiu to somewhat like him. He doesn't even mean it, he was just was a decent person. They hang out with each other sometimes and eventually Shen Yuan gets close enough to Shen Jiu that he's allowed to help him cultivate and fix his meridians.

But the longer he's in the body, the more his soul rejects it. The meridians don't align with him, the limbs are too off, he's the wrong size, his hands are wrong, everything feeling wrong, even his eyes are wrong. And his soul knows it's wrong and is rejecting it.

Eventually it's Shen Jiu having to help him cultivate instead of the other way around. Shen Yuan is forced to step down as head disciple and there's even talk about him getting kicked out of the sect since he can't even properly cultivate anymore.

Their shishu from Qian Cao even starts to check on him and only finds bizarre things that have only been written about. That the soul was suddenly misaligned and it's trying to pass qi through meridians that doesn't fit it. Everyone points to the violent qi deviation he apparently had a while before.

Shen Yuan just lets it go in one ear and out the other. He knows why his soul is rejecting the body, but he says nothing. Suddenly everyone is treating him like glass and he's barely allowed to do anything "dangerous".

Shen Jiu doesn't baby him that much, but he's clearly worried. And during one of the times he's trying to help Shen Yuan with his cultivation, he notices something strange. He notices that the soul isn't misaligned, it just doesn't match. It's a barely noticable offset, but he did catch it.

Once Shen Yuan leaves, he immediately goes to Qing Jing's library to figure out any possibilities. The best thing he could figure out is possession. Supposedly, the changes started after Shen Yuan had his qi deviation, which is likely when the possession occurred, but that happened before Shen Jiu entered the sect so as far as he's concerned this Shen Yuan was his Shen Yuan. He couldn't mourn a man he never knew.

While Shen Jiu was doing research, Shen Yuan went to Shang Qinghua to ask about the sun moon dew mushroom. Shang Qinghua hesitantly makes a request for an off peak exploration with Shen Yuan. He lied a bit (a lot) and said it was to test a supposedly mystical spring said to help with such things.

The quest for the seed was a success (Su Xiyan probably helped). Shen Yuan is forced to use his deteriorating cultivation to grow the body. Shang Qinghua helps as well and is the one constantly checking on it since Shen Yuan isn't really allowed off the peak too often.

Around the 3rd year Shen Yuan is forced to be bedridden and uses spirit stones as a way to transfer his spiritual energy to the seed with Shang Qinghua being the one to bring them to the seed.

By the 5th year, his soul has practically fully rejected the body and was ready to just hop into the plant body. Everyone has been increasingly worried since Shen Yuan looks just about to drop dead and absolutely no cultivation seems to help.

Eventually Shen Yuan's Shizun suggests that they used a sun moon dew mushroom to save him, but the whole talk with Huan Hua was unsuccessful and took too long. By the time the Old Palace Master even allowed them to even look for the mushroom, the plant body was done growing and Shen Yuan finally dropped dead.

This obviously crushed a lot of people. Especially his Shizun who saw Shen Yuan as a son. And VERY MUCH Shen Jiu, who became an even worse shut in and his temper got worse.

When Shen Yuan finally crawls out of the ground, the Qing generation ascended. Shen Qingqiu is known to be an even worse shut in than he is in PIDW to the point that even a few of his own disciples don't know his face.

Shen Yuan is finally in a body like his old one and his cultivation also massively improves because he can finally actually cultivate. He goes to live his best life as a rogue cultivator under his real name.

He visits Shang Qinghua often enough to mostly hear about the goings on in the sect. He is at first surprised that Shen Jiu mourned him and even more surprised that he was Shen Qingqiu (the signs were there).

He fights with himself if he should check on him because on one hand, that is Jiu-er and he likes the kid, but on the other hand, that is also Shen Qingqiu. So he ends up just throwing it into the back of his mind.

Later on, Shang Qinghua slips up during a meeting with Shen Qingqiu and accidentally says something Shen Yuan related. Shen Qingqiu clocks that it sounded a lot like the beast taming peak's former head disciple, so he starts interrogating Shang Qinghua.

Shen Qingqiu tells him he knows that disciple was possessed or something like that because the soul was foreign. Shang Qinghua is shitting bricks, but manages to make up a believable lie about how someone from his hometown he was friends with died young and his soul had stuck to the disciple after his qi deviation as the spirit wandered. And that was why he had gotten sick because the soul rejected the vessel.

Shen Qingqiu can tell there's parts that aren't completely true but he can't find any full lies either. He concludes that Shang Qinghua is just lying about parts that would be too personal or something.

And after more pushing, he gets Shang Qinghua to admit he knew Shen Yuan was going to die and they planted a plant body for him to transfer into. Almost instantly Shen Qingqiu demands to meet Shen Yuan, and Shang Qinghua can't weasel himself out of this one and begrudgingly arranges an excursion out of the sect. Yue Qingyuan agrees almost instantly because Shen Qingqiu never left the sect after Shen Yuan's death, so he thinks it'll be good for him.

They go to a town Shen Yuan frequents and find him pretty quickly. Shang Qinghua points him out and doesn't even bother following Shen Qingqiu and just goes off to do something else (he refuses to third wheel here)

Shen Qingqiu goes to Shen Yuan and starts bickering with him almost instantly (he got nervous in front of him crush). Shen Yuan calls him a pest as always and fondly rolls his eyes before realizing that Shen Jiu probably didn't recognize him and went to backtrack.

Shen Jiu stops it and tells him that Shang Qinghua told him. Shen Yuan is surprised and then gets awkward as he tries to apologize for not telling him. Shen Jiu cuts him off and tells him he has no interest in apologies, and also that he figured it out a while ago.

And then they idk have some totally #platonic #heterosexual gay sex in Shen Yuan's inn room. I don't know bro I didn't think about the ending. They could've just talked. Honestly whichever one you want ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

[desideriumwriter]

Metamorphosis | F.W. x Reader

Summary: Fred has been acting differently since he got hurt during the War. You're not sure how many more of his outbursts you can handle.

CW: established relationship, mentions of a head injury, TBIs, migraines, blood, being cut from broken glass, yelling, arguing, crying, not proofread

WC: 4.3k

A/N: now this one is a rollercoaster

based off this request! | f.w. masterlist | navi

Things had been difficult since May.

Voldemort was dead and the war was over. But everyone was dealing with the aftermath.

Things were quiet for a while, people were quiet. Distant but united at the same time. It took a few months for everyone to try and go back to normal.

Now it was November, and Fred was still dealing with the aftermath.

Of course, a head injury from being hit with a spell and a literal stone wall falling on him would have its long-term effects. You’d already read the list over who knows how many times.

Memory loss, light sensitivity, aggression, problems with multitasking, communication issues, irritability, mood swings, forgetfulness, etc. The list went on and on, you hated how long it was. 

You did research on it, listening to his doctors and picking up as many books you could find on head injuries or TBIs.

You even got your hands on some textbooks that muggle medical students used.

George and you took care of Fred after he came back to your shared space above the shop. He spent his first week after being discharged from the hospital at his mums, due to Mollys demands.

Things slowly went back to normal after a few months. Most things.

Shops reopened all along Diagon Alley, including the twins, people felt safe to go out and chat with each other again. 

Life went back to how it was before the war began.

The cold weather was getting harsher and so was Fred. 

You knew that the irritability and mood swings would come along with the injury. You just weren’t expecting it to be so constant.

Fred had his bad days and he had his better days. Today was one of those bad days.

You could tell he was really struggling remembering what was in stock and what needed to be made more of. You sat with him at the counter as he wrote down on a notepad what was needed. Taking notes was one of the things that helped him nowadays.

You saw him look up, the cogs attempting to turn in his head.

“Peruvian Darkness Powder.” You said softly, it was the next thing that needed to be restocked.

“Right. That. Thanks.” He muttered out, crouching over to write it down, his hand shaky and handwriting a bit wobbled.

Frustrated with his shaky hands, he threw the pen down, putting his head in his hands, rubbing his face.

“I just don’t get why it’s so hard. I feel like I can’t properly do anything.” He groaned, the annoyance clear in his voice.

“Fred, it's what the symptoms of a-”

“I know it’s a fucking brain injury. I’ve heard it enough goddamn times. You don’t need to spell it out for me.” Fred spat out, ripping his hand from yours and walking past you. That was the fourth time he snapped at you today.

After closing that night, you sat on the bench right outside the shop. Elbows resting on your knees with your head in your hands.

You were really trying here. Trying your best not to get mad at him, to yell and spit at him as he did you.

He was still your Fred that you loved. He was just a bit different now, and that was okay, he was still your Fred.

The door to the shop opened, the silly tune of the charmed bell playing as a tall figure stepped out. Fred stood to the side of you now, his frame blocked out the light shining on you from the street lamps. The only light now being from the inside of the shop, illuminating his and your face once you looked up.

You breathed in deep, closing your eyes for a second, trying to keep any tears from falling. The cold wind wasn’t helping.

“Hi.” He gave you a shamefaced smile.

George had definitely scolded him and told him to apologize once you went outside. It’s not the first time he’s made him do it in recent times.

“Hi.” You sighed.

“I’m- I didn’t mean to snap at you when you were trying to help me with what needed to be restocked, or when you offered to sort the mail.” He shoved his hands in his pockets, suddenly feeling small. The feeling had become constant for him now.

“And before both of those, when you snapped at me in your office. Then in front of one of the cashiers.”

“I did?” He said softly, genuinely shocked. You nodded, brows knit together.

“Oh, I didn’t even realize. I don’t even remember that. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be so harsh.” Fred looked down, having the same expression as a kicked puppy.

“It’s okay, Fred. I know you don’t mean to.” You slowly nodded.

“I’m trying to not be so rude. I’m trying to be better, I promise.”

“I know, Fred. I know.” You sniffled.

The doctors said practicing patterns would help with cognitive ability. Patterning. So stocking the purple and orange mystery boxes in a pattern would be Fred’s practice.

He began to practice different patterns:

Purple. Orange. Purple. Orange. Repeat.

Then moved onto a bit more strange ones:

Purple. Purple. Orange. Orange. Purple. Orange. Repeat. 

He was struggling a bit more than usual today, you watched as he did, and it broke your heart.

You sighed as you put your notepad away, pausing writing down the grocery list for now and making your way over to Fred.

You reached out, putting the next correctly colored box on the shelf for him. He grumbled out a ‘thanks’.

“I can do the rest for you. Go give your brain a break.” You breathed out a laugh, trying to be lighthearted as you picked up the large box filled with the remaining mystery boxes to be put away.

“No, it’s fine. I’ve got it.”  Fred mumbled out, paying you barely any mind.

“Fred, I can tell your stressed enough just let me-“

“Will you piss off? I said I've got it!” Fred didn’t mean to yell, especially in the middle of a busy store, he was just frustrated. 

Your cheeks heated up in embarrassment and anger due to all the staring eyes of confused customers looking at the both of you.

“Fine, fucking do it yourself then.” You shoved the box into his hands. Walking off, pissed off as you threw off your hat onto the counter.

George murmured your name as you walked by, trying to put a hand on your shoulder, you shoved out his grasp.

You hid away in the back stockroom. George followed, entering a tiny bit after you.

You sat on a wooden box, leaned over with your head in your hands. 

“You know he doesn’t mean it. He got blasted pretty hard, it’s just one of the side effects.” George sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets.

You were so tired of those two words. Side effects. Yes, of course you knew what the side effects and symptoms were, that they wouldn’t be pretty or easy. But you were just so sick of hearing it.

You shrugged, lifting your head up.

“He's frustrated. With himself.” George sat down next to you, intertwining his hands into a ball. “He always feels bad after he gets angry.”

“I know, and I’m trying my best to help him out but it’s like he never fucking wants it. He refuses.”

“He’s never liked help, always wanting to be so damn independent and stubborn.” George let out a weak chuckle and shook his head. “It took him five minutes to accept the money Harry gave us. Even after that he tried to tell Harry he’d give it back if he changed his mind.”

“I remember, I was there.” You smiled a bit to yourself at the memory, Fred was so adamant about Harry keeping the money, or at least most of it.

“Chocolate?” He pulled a small bar off one of the shelves, you shook your head. “It’ll make you feel better.” You persuaded, you let out an amused sigh and took it.

“You stole that line from Lupin.” Unwrapping it and biting off a small chunk.

“Yeah, but it works doesn’t it?” You let out a defeated nod and smile in response, taking another bite.

“He’s not gonna be like this forever. You know that. He’s gotten a lot better since May. Just, his moodiness will stick around for a little bit.”

“I know. I’m just so worried about him. I can’t help it.”

George was at Angelinas for the night. It took him ten minutes to stop worrying and finally go, constantly reminding you if you needed his help with Fred, if Fred starts getting mean, to send him an owl and he’d come back immediately. You shooed him off and assured him Fred and you would be fine, that he should go have a worry-free night with Angelina.

It was going well, you watched a short movie and shared some snacks and cuddles on the couch. It was all going so nicely until you both decided to get changed and go to bed.

You slipped on a night shirt talking to Fred about the movie as he opened the top drawer on the wooden dresser. The one that creaked and occasionally jammed from time to time. 

Tonight was one of those times.

He pulled out a pair of pajama pants from the drawer, his eyebrows knitting together when he pushed the drawer and it barely moved. You looked over and frowned disappointedly.

“It’s stuck again.” You sighed, thinking out loud. 

“I know.” Fred muttered out under his breath, you didn’t catch it.

You watched as he repeatedly tried to push it, it wouldn’t budge.

“It’s just old, maybe tomorrow we could go window shopping for a new one?” You suggested sweetly as he didn’t respond, he just clenched his jaw as he continued trying to close it.

He used a terrifying amount of force as he slammed the drawer shut with one last push, causing the whole thing to ratter. The sudden movement and sound made you jump. You took a step back, Fred noticed. His expression faltered for a moment as his eyes scanned your body language.

“What, are you scared of me or something now?” He muttered, an attitude in his voice.

“No, I never said I was scared of you. You just…”

 “What? I’ve just what?” 

You were so sick of his attitude. You took in a deep breath before speaking.

“You’ve been acting up, you’ve been slamming doors, throwing things down when you’re frustrated, you yell more. At George and I especially. You’re unpredictable.” You let out quickly.

“Unpredictable? I have not been that bad. You’re dramatic.” Fred shot back, he was a bit hurt by your words, yet deep down he knew you were right. His actions had become surprising. But he was too damn stubborn and he was in the middle of a beginning argument, so he wouldn’t admit to it now.

“I’m not, you’re proving your point with how you’re being now. You’re being stubborn and defensive. You get angry and you yell at me. When I’m just trying to help! The doctors said-”

“I don’t give a shit what the fucking doctors told you! Or those stupid books you’ve been wasting your time on!” All this yelling hurt his head. But the words were spilling out his mouth like a waterfall of poison. 

“Have you considered your not being any help? If you really wanted to help you’d let me do shit myself instead of acting like I’m fucking stupid! You wouldn’t be walking on eggshells around me! You’d let me be instead of being a pounding in my head!” His chest heaved, his face slowly being filled with regret as he saw you. Taking a step back with the most painful stare at him, astonishment and hurt written all over your face.

He watched as you brought your arms up around you, holding yourself as if it was a way of shielding yourself from his words.

“Is that really what you think of me?” Your voice went soft. A small crack in your delivery of words as you rubbed your upper arm.

“No! Absolutely not! I just- I’m-” Here comes the sputtered out apologies, the regret filling him up immediately, you just shook your head.

“Forget it, I’m done with this conversation.” You barged out the room. That look never leaving your face, it will haunt him forever.

“Where are you going? I thought you were going to bed?” He called out as you went down the hallway.

“I’m sleeping on the couch tonight.” You shouted back, more of a loud mutter really. Fred said your name disappointedly, leaning against the bedroom door frame. You didn’t respond, you didn’t turn around, you made your way to the couch.

He didn’t run after and stop you. Knowing you’d give him the silent treatment and refuse to get in the same bed as him. For tonight only. Hopefully.

Though you tried to muffle and hide your sobs behind your hands, Fred could still hear it all the way from the bedroom. Those pained sharp breaths in that turned into wheezes, the little hiccups and whimpers of sadness you made when you breathed out were far too loud to be hidden.

You cried for two hours until you finally got a grip of yourself. Getting up and going down the hallway, not to get back in bed, but to see if Fred was.

You peeked your head in just enough to see his side of the bed, he was laying on his back peacefully, his eyes puffy. Had he been crying also?

He was relaxed now though, resting. At least he was getting some sleep. You quietly sneaked back to the living room. Lying back down on the couch and using a throw pillow for your head. 

You couldn’t get comfortable, couldn’t keep your eyes shut, couldn’t stop thinking, you couldn’t sleep. You missed him, you really just wanted to be next to him.

By the time the clock ticked to 2AM, you got up, tiptoeing back into the bedroom. Sneaking to your side of the bed, so carefully pulling back the sheets. You moved so carefully, so lightly, so gently as if everything was made of fine china. 

You debated if you should snuggle up to Fred, not wanting to wake him. What if he got annoyed again? You really didn’t want to deal with another conflict.

You carefully scooted over to him anyways, testing your luck. You slowly wrapped your arm around his torso, ever so lightly laying your head on his chest. He began to move and your body immediately tensed up.

His arm hooked around you, circling your waist, the other arm reaching over, his hand softly placed on the side of your head. Your body went limp in happiness. You could start crying again from all the joy you felt in this moment.

This is how you knew Fred hadn’t become a whole other person than the one you knew before the accident. His hands on you, holding onto you so sweetly, just like he used to. There were still those little remnants of his true self hanging around. He was still Fred. He was still your Fred.

You woke up to an empty bed. The sunlight shining down on Freds side of the mattress.

You changed into more presentable clothes, hearing the chatter from downstairs and knowing the shop was open. 

Going downstairs, Fred was nowhere to be seen while George was moving around helping customers and constantly casting spells to organize things.

Owning a joke shop was absolutely not a one man job.

“Where’s Fred?” You asked, looking around as you approached the counter. George was stacking cards. 

“In his office. Another migraine.” He tucked in his lips, seemingly annoyed.

“Oh. Well, I’m gonna go out, probably window shop. Do you need anything?”

“Could you get some cabbage? And a few more quills and ink? We’re running low.” He said, swiveling his way out from behind the counter.

You may have stayed out longer than you meant to.

Thinking you’d be back before five, you got home at nearly eight instead.

You did some looking around in local furniture shops, and you picked up what George asked for. You mostly just walked around the quieter streets, needing to get away from all the noise.

By the time you got back it was a bit dark outside and there was a closed sign on the shop door. You unlocked and locked it quickly, moving upstairs tiredly.

The living room light was turned off, the moonlight from outside being the only thing that made the room somewhat visible. Fred was sitting on the couch.

“Hey.” You spoke softly. 

“Hi.”

“Where’d George go?”

“He stopped by Angelina’s for dinner.” He said blankly. Everything felt so awkward.

“Oh. Have you eaten?” You asked as you set down the bags of supplies.

“Yeah, I had some leftovers.”

“Okay, well, what’re you doing in the dark? Get some light in here.” You giggled as you flipped up the light switch, overhead light brightening up the room.

Fred quickly scrunched his eyes closed with a pained expression, he put a hand up to shadow his face.

Fuck. Light sensitivity. He was already dealing with a migraine, that’s why he was in the dark, and you turning on the light made it much more intense.

“Shit. Sorry, sorry, sorry.” You blurted out as you hit the switch down, the room going darker again.

“Here, I’ll- I’ll get you a glass of water.” You sputtered out, running over to the kitchen sink and grabbing a glass, filling it up with cold water from the tap.

“No, you don’t have to.” Fred muttered out.

“Please, it’ll help. Just let me help.” You pleaded as you ran back over to the couch, sitting down and holding the glass towards him. He denied it again.

“Fred, just drink-“

“I told you! No!” He shouted, pushing your hand away.

The glass slipped out of your grasp. Hitting the floor and cracked into pieces, somewhere in the impact a small shard hit your lower leg. Nothing serious, it could be quickly closed up with a spell, but it was bleeding heavily already.

Fred realized what had happened once you felt the stung and winced, holding a hand over your small injury, crimson staining your hand and dripping onto your sock.

“Oh Merlin, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to.” He panicked as he straightened up, patting his sides for his wand, he had left it in his office. He saw yours on the coffee table.

“Here, let me fix-” He reached one hand towards your wand, the other laying on your shoulder.

“Don’t. It’s fine, I’ve got it.” You said as you reached across, grabbing your wand and leaned your shoulder away from his touch.

His stomach twisted, the guilt was eating him up. He fidgeted with his fingers, not knowing what to do with his hands now that you refused his touch and his help.

You said a quick spell, the cut swiftly closing, skin looking unharmed and the only evidence of what happened being the remnants of drying blood on your leg and hand.

“I’m gonna go wash off my hands.” You said so quietly, almost a whisper. Fred stayed silent as he watched you get up and walk away, he wanted to cry.

You returned to the living room with a packed suitcase, quickly walking past Fred on the couch and to the chimney. His eyes stayed glued on you the entire time. You didn’t look at him.

“You’re leaving?” Freds brows knit together in a sad way, he sat up straight from his spot on the couch.

“Yeah. Not for long. I’ll be back.” You spoke, back facing him as you put down your small suitcase.

“Where?”

“A friends place. For a few days.” You didn’t tell him who, he would most likely send letters apologizing.

George was the one who suggested it surprisingly. Once he came home as you were washing off the blood, he told you to go take a few days to yourself.

“No offense to you, you’ve been doing great. But I’ve lived with him for nearly twenty-six years. I know how to deal with him when he’s mad.” He held your shoulders.

“I know how to deal with him too, you know.” 

“Of course I do. But I know you’re worn out as well. You need to take some care of yourself. Focus on you for a few days.” You really didn’t want to agree with George on that, it felt rude to do it. There was really no good way of saying he was wearing you down.

“I’m sorry.” Fred spoke out.

“I know, Fred.” You let out a heavy breath. “I’m not mad at you. I think we should take a break from each other.” You tried not to let your voice wobble.

“You don’t mean a break up, right?” He stood up from the couch.

“No. Of course not.” You finally turned around, looking at his gloomy face. “We just need to spend some time apart, just for a day or so. Okay?” You kept your voice soft and nurturing, hoping it would hide the way your own words were breaking your heart.

"Can I just get a hug before you leave? Please?" Fred took a few steps closer, his steps cautious. You closed your eyes and nodded.

You didn’t want to look at him for too long, both of your faces were threatening to deteriorate into tears, and you couldn’t stand to see it.

He pulled you into him nicely, hands slowly and carefully wrapping around you like you would crack if he moved the wrong way.

“I’m sorry I’m like this. I love you.” He said softly, sounding like it was a plea for you to stay.

“I know.” You mumbled into his chest.

Fred’s injury didn’t bother you. The forgetfulness of struggles with certain things didn’t bother you, you didn’t care if he struggled to keep track with things. 

It was just his anger. His outbursts. His shouting. That’s what bothered you, it was nothing like him. Sure, he’s definitely gotten moody or stubborn or annoyed before like during Quidditch matches back at Hogwarts or when a much needed shipment arrived late at the shop.

But you’ve rarely seen him truly mad, yell like he does now, the only time you can remember him like that is when he had to be held back from helping George and Harry beat up Malfoy after a match in his seventh year.

“I still love him, of fucking course I do. But he’s changed so much. it’s like,” You stopped, clenching your jaw and trying your best trying to keep tears from returning. “It’s like sometimes I look at him, and he’s a ghost, he’s a completely different man I fell in love with all those years ago.”

“You’ve changed too.” Alicia commented, “You’re not as much of a hermit as you used to be.” She joked, poking you.

“Oh piss off.” You let out a breathy chuckle, face falling soon after. “I’m scared. What if he stays like this forever?” You whispered out, a small crack in your voice.

“He won’t. You told me already, there’s still that cheeky little Fred that you’ve always know still in him. He’s getting better day by day.” She tilted her head. “And fuck it. Even if he doesn’t, even if it takes a while, you gotta grow with him.” You looked at her, puzzled expression on your face.

“If you don’t grow with him, if you aren’t willing to go through that, then what in the hell are you doing?” She shrugged, laying back in her chair. “You’ve gone through these shitty times with him before, right? And you both made it through. What makes you worried you won’t be able to do it again?” 

Alicia was right. You’ve gone through rough patches with him and made it out just fine. Casual disagreements, arguments and fights, yet you always made up. Leaving those arguments in the past and loving each other in the present.

“You staying another night?” Alicia asked you, taking a sip from her glass.

“No, I think I’ll go back. I’ll send an owl and tell them before I go.”

Once the green flames subsided and you stepped out of the chimney, dusting off your clothes. Fred came running into the room, a bouquet of all the flowers in his hand.

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

“Feeling alright today?”

“Yeah. Yeah. Are you?”

“Yeah.”

God, you hated the awkward tension in the air. It felt like this every time you had a conversation.

“That’s good. Uh, these are for you.” He stuck out the bouquet nervously, hand trembling. You put down your suitcase and stepped closer. A small noise of adoration left as you looked at the flowers, it was all your favorites.

“I may not be able to remember much. But I remembered these were always your favorite.” He let out an awkward laugh.

The last time you told him what flowers you liked was in year five. You took the bouquet from him with hesitant hands, surprised by the gift. Fred swallowed his anxiety before he began to speak again.

“I didn’t mean to be so rude. I just get so frustrated with myself, I don’t want to act like that anymore. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t take it out on you, you didn���t deserve it.” He moved to cup his hands around your face, bringing your teary eyes to meet his.

“I promise you I’m going to be better. I swear on everything. I will be better.” He gave you a sweet kiss on your forehead, then pulled you into a hug. 

You held on tightly to his torso, turning the flowers away to keep them from being crushed.

“I love you.” You said into his sweater, tears beginning to fall.

“I love you too. So much.”

tell me what you thought! <3

[yourheart-inmyhands]

Hii, just call me Skull anon. I've been very curious about how different yanderes would do so I'm asking for a request.

How would Xiao, Albedo, and Wriothesley deal with a Drug addict reader who was already in an unstable state, struggling to survive with rent and had bad trauma? The trauma could be anything you'd like.

Of course, you can deny this request if it makes you uncomfortable. No pressure or anything.

so i was a little hesitant to do this because I wasn't sure how well I could properly portray this, but going sort of off my own experience with certain things and trying to remain calm i wrote this. i can't really explain what compelled me to, but i do hope you enjoy this and please, read the warnings for this one :] <3

Warning: this post contains yandere-themes, including delusional behaviors, implied being held against will, manipulation tactics, mentions of substance abuse and recovery from it, obsessive behaviors, and other potential topics. Please Read At Your Own Risk!

Yandere!Xiao would be concerned internally but look indifferent externally. He’s conflicted, because he knows you’re struggling and that humans are a lot weaker, that you need help, but he doesn’t know how to help, he’s never had to be in this position before. He consults many people, fellow adepti, Zhongli, even the Traveler, none of whom he gives the full picture to but instead dances around the main ideas and works off vague descriptions.

Xiao’s first step in helping you was moving you in to the Wangshu Inn with him, where he could watch over you better. He has a reserved room there, though he never really uses it. Sleep is beyond his needs so he rarely rests, but you need rest so he allows you to have the room. This comes with him barging in on you whenever he sees fit though, day to night at any moment he could pop in without you even knowing. He had a strange way of doing that, a lot. He isn’t sure how to help with trauma or substance abuse, those aren’t the evils he usually fights, but he knows people he can ask about that. Xiao didn’t like admitting that he didn’t know what to do, but grumbling and giving Baizhu some vague descriptions of the situation helped him get a better idea of what to do. Xiao decides to take the soft approach of slowly weening you off the awful stuff, not wanting you to be left with more problems from quitting cold turkey. It’s a long road and Xiao was sorta kinda prepared to help you through it. He likes having you this close though, this dependent on him and his help.

Yandere!Albedo struggles with his feelings. His lack of humanity means he really only experiences feelings that are typically in abundance, meaning he doesn’t feel unless the feeling is so strong it cannot be ignored. His research is all he really knows so he takes the opportunity to offer ‘assistance.’ In exchange for staying with him and allowing him to study your responses and reactions, he would help you with your addiction.

It seemed like a good deal at first, Albedo would provide adequate housing, a quaint apartment in the heart of Mondstat, in exchange for being allowed to study you as he helped you over your drug problem. It would kill two birds with one stone no? What he didn’t tell you though was that he planned to have you quit cold turkey, wanting to watch how your body would respond to the sudden withdrawals. Of course, if anything started to border on the edge of life-threatening, he’d take preventative measures to ensure you lived, but otherwise, you were not permitted to leave or take any addictive substances. Albedo oversees all your care, meaning that for the entire recovery process, you are confined to a bedroom with him hovering over you, notepad and pencil in hand and large, unblinking eyes boring holes into you. It was unsettling, and even when you were on the upswing, finally getting to where the grass was greener, he still refused to allow you out or allow others in, saying that it could compromise the research. In reality, he just didn’t want anyone else near you, he had loved having you all to himself and didn’t want to share you ever again.

Yandere!Wriothesley is surprisingly educated on what to do. Not only had a few people in similar conditions come through the prison, but it was his job to make sure that he knew everything about everyone who passed into this place. With the help of some staff at the Fortress of Meropide, he moves you into a room in the staff wing, assigning you a set of personalized staff to help with your addictions. There were only two conditions, he would check in on you every day to ensure you were sticking to your recovery and that when you were finally okay, you would work as his assistant to pay off your debt. 

Wriothesley wasn’t worried about the money that was put towards your recovery, it was nothing to someone with the title of Duke. He was more concerned with you being alive than momentary pleasures like wealth, but he used the excuse of you needing to pay him back to keep you around longer. He checks in with you every day, typically around dinner time, he’ll take a break to eat with you and talk about your day, building a relationship and establishing a connection, but sometimes he takes short breaks to check in on you. Wriothesley also speaks with the assigned group of nurses and staff that were there specifically for you every day, getting word from them on your progress and how things are looking. He enjoys seeing you slowly getting better day by day, his hope for the future strong as he dreams of the day you become officially his. He had no intention of ever letting you leave the Fortress of Meropide, at least not without him, arm wrapped protectively around you as he escorts you around, as a partner should.

[flowering-thought]

Ganon brainrot won in my heart so here we are-

Please know that this version of Ganaon is influenced by BOTW and TOTK as I never got the chance to play the older games and I'm hopefully going to purchase TOTK soon (I'm a broke bitch so I look at spoilers in envy and awe). Also note that due to the complicated timeline of the games I'm going to say that Zelda has traveled back maybe 10,000 years because as of right now there's no telling how to fit it into the timeline for sure-

Not gonna lie I wanna do more of this, maybe a part two?? Should I do a part two?? I want to do more but I didn't want to make it too long-

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four

WARNING - MINORS DNI

AFAB reader and reader is described as feminine and chubby/plus sized.

Yandere themes, obsessive behavior, hints at stalking

Yandere Ganondorf x Archeologist Reader

Zelda and Link. Two people you had come to know well as you had helped Link grow used to life in Hyrule after waking from his 100 year nap.

You were an assistant who occasionally helped Purah but also looked for things to research on your own when you could.

And when Link had saved the kingdom from Calamity Ganons grasp? You had grown close to Princess Zelda, who shared many interests with you. You two got along quite well, having fun and sharing research with each other and having long conversations about the past and the link between technological advancements and a declining birthrate.

And with Link? You appreciated the times when you could just relax. You would both sit by the fire and relax or you would tell him stories to pass the time.

Before Link had managed to defeat Calamity Ganon you would empathize with the struggle of not remembering his past, of the emotions that came with the weight of the world on his shoulders. And you would help him find ways to find happiness in the small things, even talking with him and having conversations to make things seem less stressful than they were.

So with Link and Zelda by your side with ruins of the ancient past? What would you have to worry about? Zelda is knowledgeable about ruins and Link is strong enough to help either of you if something were to happen.

But things don't always turn out how you want them to be huh?

Walking up to what looked to be a corpse deprived of light and dehydrated to the point it was practically a standing mummy, a hand attached to its chest and a spiral of light emitting from the contact.

And as though it were fate, that hand detached, a stone falling with it. A part of you felt as though you weren't supposed to be here, you took a step back, behind Zelda and Link, your eyes fixated on the mummified corpse.

As if you had walked into some tale of horror, the cracks of bones could be heard from the body, it slowly moving in what could only be described as terrifying.

Just as it opened its eyes Link blocked the first attack, and you grabbed Zelda's wrist, ready to run with her if need be. And the shattering of the master sword echoed through the chamber.

"The sword that seals the darkness? Such a fragile sword cannot defend you from me." He stated, a raspy voice speaking out.

"Zelda.. And you who carries that sword are Link." He continued.

The conversation did not last, another attack carried and both you and Zelda are knocked into the abyss. And even if it would be your death, you did not let go of Zelda, knowing that you'd rather be together in death should you die from that fall.

But all you saw was a burst of light before you inevitably passed out, your consciousness fully collapsing as the world around you changed.

And then there you were, in a field in Hyrule, both you and Zelda lain among the grass for a certain King and Queen to find you.

Zelda was the first to awaken to their voices, explaining who she was to them before they explained their own title.

And just before Zelda could gasp, you awoke. You held yourself as you woke up before fully awakening and looking around frantically for Zelda.

You didn't mind the strangers as you crawled over quickly to check for wounds, "Are you okay? You didn't get hurt?" You asked.

And upon realizing where you were, and looked upon by strangers, both you and Zelda explained what had happened to the young King and Queen as they brought you to the peak

Of course what followed was being brought to the founding kingdom of Hyrule, Rauru and Sonia treated Zelda like their daughter, smiling and making sure she was well fed.

They had claimed that both you and Zelda were distant relatives despite you saying you were not a part of the Hylian royal family. But they stated it would be better to claim that for now.

And while they treated Zelda like their child, when it came to you they were gentle as though you were someone they loved. You did not have powers like them and so they made sure you had a guard with you at all times.

Often times you would be found by the pair with Mineru, both of you enjoying different topics and you found immense enjoyment from learning everything that the Zonai technology could offer.

Sometimes you would actually fall asleep in Minerus office, and you could have sworn one time to hear Sonia and Rauru conversing as your head was supported by a lap and your hair pet gently. It was such a warm and gentle feeling so you eventually drifted back to sleep only to wake up in your chambers the next day.

And then, the one and only Gerudo King known as Ganondorf made his appearance.

Far too many times had you seen the depictions of a monstrous beast called Ganon, and upon hearing the name in another form you could feel shivers roll down your spine.

You stood next to Zelda, deciding to take your mind off of the King and look to his group, finding the differences in the attire of the past and future was fun to you rather than thinking about the anxiety that came with meeting Ganondorf.

And while you gazed at his group, Ganondorf had been staring at the stones for a time, noticing Zelda had one so he assumed that you would as well. And as soon as he noticed you did not have one he should have brought his gaze back to Rauru but he couldn't.

The way those robes fit on your figure, your soft looking features and that gaze of intelligence and warmth in your eyes had him nearly move his head to look right at you. But of course he knew better than to make his interest clear right in the throne room.

He couldn't keep his eyes off you, even when he and his group of warriors were escorted to different chambers to rest he had your face in mind. And before he was escorted to the separate nicer chamber he would stay in for his standing in the Gerudo tribe was the highest, he pulled two warriors aside and told them to keep an eye on you in secret, to learn more about you.

"And what kind of information on her would you like us to gather?" One asked, prepared for whatever her king would ask of them.

"Everything." He stated, turning to follow the Hylian maid who stood quite a bit away.

And so for an entire week, while observing many schedules of those who had the secret stone, he would try to find the places you tended to wander in.

He learned of the foods you prefered, how you spent a lot of your time either in the garden or the library, snacks such as fruit you often snacked on. He also found out the size of the robes you wore, getting a messenger to send that information back to the tribe to prepare you clothing. And he also tried his best to search into your orgins, but even most servants of the palace did not know where you came from.

It was frustrating that oftentimes you were with a member of the royal family or in places he couldn't get to without arising suspicion when it came to trying to get close to you.

Until finally, you were in the garden, only a single guard standing a couple of feet away as you sat in the grass and with a sketchbook open drew the different kinds of plants in front of you.

He found it beautiful. How your fresh flowed around you in the grass and your hunched form taking in the details of nature.

A part of him thought it suited you. But another thought how much better you would look smiling at him and waving him over.

But alas he had to make the first move.

So that's what he did, he stepped into the garden and made a light cough, the guard startling and immediately formed a stance while you turned to face what was only a pair of legs till you craned your head up to look at him.

You stayed completely still out of shock, till Ganondorf tilted his head a bit, wondering why you merely stared.

"Am I truly that shocking to see my lady?" He asked, a small smirk adorning his face. You nearly wanted to run but at the same time a part of you didn't want to create problems for Rauru or Sonia or even possibly Zelda so you decided to be neutral and scoot over a bit.

"Not as shocked as you would think, sit down and maybe I could see your face without needing to break my neck." You said, hoping that maybe he wouldn't be too interested so you wouldn't have to be too on edge.

But much to your surprise you heard a loud chuckle and next thing you knew had the King of the Gerudo sitting next to you in a garden of flowers.

You couldn't stand the awkward silence so you decided to form a conversation with him instead. "So how is your stay? I hope you're finding things enjoyable?" You ask, fumbling with the pages of your sketchbook, the notes written between the pages among illustrations and dried flowers and plants.

Ganondorf took in everything. How lovely your face looked up close, how tiny your hands were as you held that book in hand, and how your fingernails would get under a page to flip to another as you tried to make conversation.

He wanted you. He knew for certain then and there that he wanted you. It was love at first sight yes. But it wasn't the kind that he would throw away everything for until this point.

Now he understood the tales of foolish people throwing things they had worked hard for away for love. But it's a good thing Ganondorf is a greedy man. He'll have you first even if it means abandoning his first plan. He can always create another.

So as his mind processed these thoughts he gave a hum of confirmation before gazing down at you, "Do you know anything about the desert?" He asked. You would never know this was a conversation to prepare you for the harshness of the desert when he would eventually find a way to sweet talk his way into taking you there.

But unexpectedly you nodded and smiled, "Yes! While during the day it reaches its hottest point at noon, and its coolest point at midnight. But the sunsets and sunrises in the desert are breathtaking!" You started, smiling as you opened another page to some of the flora and fauna you've observed in the future.

"See I love how things can still manage to survive, it's so interesting how they form their own ways of survival and manage to thrive. Just like people do!" You stated.

"And how clear the sky looks at night when you're in the desert, it almost looks like an endless sea of stars. It does get cold at night but I've never been one to grow cold easily." You add, a bright smile on your face only keeping the man stunned in place.

How positive you were when he had only seen the negatives of his homeland. The vast desert is dry and harsh. He hated the Hylians who had taken for granted their habitable home and yet here he was, in love with a Hylian even before you would confess of your love for the desert.

You went on about how to build the most efficient homes, how staying near an oasis is the best move, and how white paint or tiles would help reflect the sun off the roofs. How different muds and rocks and soil can affect how to build a home there. And how you enjoyed the feeling of warm sand on your feet.

It took you at least an hour of talking to realize he had listened intently for a whole hour.

It left your face feeling hot and putting your book to cover your mouth and nose, hoping to cover up whatever blush had formed on your cheeks. "Sorry, here I am drawling on and talking your ear off." You muttered, avoiding eye contact but also realizing that looking at his well-toned body was a bigger mistake as you felt your heartbeat rise and then looked to the scenery to try and calm yourself down.

Ganondorf only chuckled, smiling as he set a hand on your head and gave your hair a little ruffle. "It's okay little Vai, I quite enjoy listening to you talk." He claims, getting up before looking down once more, "We should talk again." He adds.

And with that he walked off, leaving you slightly bewildered.

Unknown to you, that guard had reported back to Rauru and Sonia at the end of the day after making sure you were safe in your chambers.

The next day Rauru and Sonia would pull aside Zelda and Mineru while you were in one of the libraries researching.

"What do we do? Why on earth would he take an interest in Y/n?" Zelda asked, her hands held together in anxiety.

"He should have been targeting one of us. Someone who holds a secret stone. Y/n doesn't even have a stone!" She adds.

Mineru and Rauru sat silently in thought while Sonia put her hand over Zeldas, "Do not worry. I don't think he has the intention to hurt her." She claims, her calm voice carrying Zelda out of all the thoughts of you becoming hurt.

"But that doesn't mean he doesn't hold other intentions with her." Rauru says, looking slightly agitated as his gaze stays focused on the table.

"She wouldn't betray us. That much is certain. So if he doesn't seek to harm her or get information out of her, what could it be?" Mineru asks out loud, her question plaguing the thoughts of all four of them.

And they all knew only time could tell.

And unfortunately for them, Ganondorf would come to find you often, growing closer to you and making you feel comfortable around him. And due to that, coming up with a new plan to propose to his tribe and the warriors who followed him was easy.

He would take you as his wife. A surefire way to ensure a "peace treaty" between the Gerudo and Hylians. And your knowledge of the landscape and ways to improve their housing would prove useful for keeping his people safe, many warriors agreed with this plan as the longevity of their tribe mattered to them more than stealing a stone.

If they managed to strengthen their tribe with knowledge you could lend then they could form a better plan to take over Hyrule.

So with the support of his warriors, he asked to meet with the Hylian court, including you.

And it was tense. When you stepped into the hall, you could have sworn Sonia was on the edge of yelling and Rauru was bewildered. Zelda took notice of you and immediately brought you close to her and went closest to the thrones to keep you within reach.

You had made it late so you didn't know that Ganondorf had just announced his wish to marry you.

"Are you insane? You propose such a thing to keep the peace between our people?" Rauru asked, his voice commanding an answer from the brazen Gerudo King.

"But it is not unreasonable. I understand that Y/n is a distant relative yes? Not only is she of noble lineage she is also intelligent and capable of helping my tribe prosper. Would it not benefit both you and me? You would have my word of peace and know that your relative would be in capable hands and protected by my people as she would become one of us by wedding me, trying our people together." He concluded, looking straight at Rauru.

You were shocked at the information, never expecting to be proposed to by such a man. Yes, he seemed to be kind to you but how would you know he would keep his promise of peace? The history you read was different from this!

You felt overwhelmed as Rauru and Sonia went on about rejecting and Ganondorf would try to talk about the benefits. It took you a minute to collect yourself so you could speak.

"That's enough!" You yelled. You hated all the attention turning to you but this was your life. You were not going to allow anyone else to choose anything for you.

"Give me a couple of days. And I will reply to your proposal Ganondorf. Please allow me that." You stated. Rauru and Sonia wanted to object, and Zelda held onto your hand desperately.

Ganondorf smiled, giving a nod before speaking, "I hope you will give me good news soon my lady.".

After the meeting Rauru, Sonia, Zelda and Mineru profusely asked you to reconsider saying anything but no. That this was insane and that you don't know any of his intentions. It took at least an hour of their constant pestering for you to hole up in a library with snacks and comfort items.

You quite literally locked them out and spent your time reading to try and find any wisdom to help you.

Eventually you came across an old scroll, your body wrapped in a blanket and a few grapes in a bowl nearby while you read what this scroll had to say.

"Time is a complex device. One that has too many layers to have one conclusion. Some say time is final, that the past cannot be changed, and nor can the future. But some say that one single element can change that. The outcome is split into multiples and time divided. Should you find yourself at a crossroads and the future you envision challenged, take the chance for there is no telling if the future is sure. And if changed with a sure future, know that while things around you may change, you will not."

And with that you had decided.

You had bathed and gotten dressed and called a meeting to answer Ganondorfs request. And Rauru, Sonia, Zelda, and Mineru looked as anxious as can be.

And with a couple of words, fate was changed.

"I accept your proposal."

[teaableu]

WHAT IS YOUR EXILE AU LIKE....

I HAVE BEEN WAITING AGES FOR SOMEONE TO ASK ME THIS

Okay SO a LOT is up in the air right now because I'm doing Research as best I can between classes BUT here's what i got so far:

Lord Kogane is from a very powerful family that wants to take full control over Neo Edo. They think he's doing a poor job because the yokai are running free again and he's overall a pretty useless ruler. They step in and force him to enforce some pretty Messed Up Stuff that put all the people in danger (something to do with the Makkine tech probably). Usagi and his friends have a front row seat as to what he's up to and Usagi decides he won't let them get away with it. I haven't worked out the details but the Koganes' plans threaten the people and the yokai. BUT Usagi's not strong enough to take out the Koganes on his own.

My Usagi has a mystic power of sorts, which makes him very sensitive to spirits. All of the visions he gets through the Ki stone in the show, plus his ability to speak with Miyamoto stem from this ability. A simple way of seeing it would be like, he can see the threads of their lives. So he can read souls and connect with them, and sees ghosts when others cannot. I think the Ki stone sort of unlocked and amplified it when he connected with her. I'm still working on the details of his power but basically he can see and talk to ghosts with a little extra stuff sprinkled in

So the Ki stone encourages Usagi to seek help. Turns out the Koganes have a rich history of killing entire villages and armies that oppose them, dating (maybe) all the way back to Miyamoto's time. So he finds a couple of restless ghosts that are still waiting for vengeance and asks for their help. He strikes a deal that was supposed to help him fight Kogane while allowing the ghosts to avenge themselves their loved ones and their clans. I think he would amplify their power while they help him fight. But he doesn't realize who exactly he's making this deal with and ends up tethering his soul to very powerful VERY ANGRY ghosts that are WAY stronger than he is (I've been researching onryo and yurei for reference). They can take possession of his body, amplify his emotions to be in tune with their own, manipulate his power, and generally cause a lot of destruction. Basically, he becomes their puppet. I'm thinking it's a Venom or Little Shop of Horrors type dynamic between them. Also think of any poltergeist type film

He makes the deal and the ghosts possess him. When Usagi wakes up, he's killed Kogane (who really wasn't even the Big Bad behind the whole thing) and has to flee the city before he's caught and put to death for treason and murder. His friends are all imprisoned but he can't risk returning because he has lost control of his power and is unable to control the ghosts that are bound to his soul. The ghosts are starving for power and burning with hundreds of years of fury and anguish, and feed off of destruction (maybe the living?) It's sort of a pandora's box situation. The ghosts are just a whirlwind of chaos and use Usagi as a means to exact their wrath

I called it exile because Usagi can't return to the city without being arrested and killed for his crimes. The gang was the only one standing up to Kogane, and with his friends in prison, he's sort of stuck. He blames himself for everything that went wrong because he ran off without his friends and jumped headfirst into a situation he did not understand. He was reckless and cocky and now everyone is paying for it.

That's where EMD comes in, but the story continues after EMD season 2 as well.

Some extra notes:

- The timeline for srtuc would probably be a bit different so I can have more flexibility with the season one and season two events, since I wasn't sure when it would take place and I want there to be a pretty big time gap between Usagi leaving and returning. I also might use the Makkine invasion in the story

- I’m still working out Usagi’s backstory/past, but have pretty much decided that he has some history with the Kogane family

- I'm planning for Miyamoto to have a pretty big part in the story as well, acting as a guide for Usagi when he goes into hiding. I'm really interested in their relationship so I really want to take the chance to explore it.

- I'm thinking of adding someone as a nod to Tomoe Ame as well (descendant of her apprentice perhaps), since we got a representation of Chizu, Kitsune, and Gen in the tv show but not Tomoe (sad)

I wrote out the sparksnotes version of this here

In addition to the artwork there I have some other concept art

Blood warning under the cut

[normal-thoughts-official]

wyll is heavily involved in karlach's new heart

from the fact that she's alive at all to get it, to the sourcing of the materials and obtaining the blueprints, to its forgery, and likely its installation, wyll was there. his handprints are all over it; the idea, the execution, the support needed for her to get there - wyll's left his mark on it every step of the way

it's not wyll's, though. it wasn't something he gave to her. it was something they built together, with her at the front. he gave ideas, he gave support, he helped execute the plan, but the heart is karlach's. it is her total freedom from being owned by anyone or anything else; this new heart, she built, with her own needs in mind, and the help of the people she chose to build her life with. the people she chose to love. he touched her heart because she allowed him, because she wanted him to

karlach's new heart is her, very literally, reclaiming her body

so it's only fair that she wants to help wyll do the same

even after the pact is broken, even after mizora is dead, wyll never thinks to replace his stone eye. it's already there, after all; it seems silly to look for another one when mizora can't even use it anymore anyway

except it's not about the eye, it's about having ownership of his own body, after it was so irreversibly changed and touched by mizora. most of it, karlach can't change, although she does help wyll reclaim it as his as much as he can. but this, she can do

she's does the research, goes looking for the materials, looks for something that can change appearance so wyll can choose what he wants it to look like; so wyll can own it. so he can choose this part of himself and his body

wyll is resistant to the idea at first, but it's not that difficult to convince him. he, too, wants to be free. and maybe that's a little easier with karlach by his side. he's only known such drastic change when he was on his own, before

and if the eyes are the window to the soul, then it only makes sense that, since mizora doesn't own his soul anymore, she no longer has any right to decide what his eye ought to be

they are each other's new beginning. not because they depend on each other or own each other but because they were by each other's side as they reclaimed themselves. because they supported each other and loved each other and chose each other to be a part of the new them

wyll helped karlach reclaim her heart. karlach helped wyll reclaim his soul. and in the process, they became a part of the very thing they wanted to restore the other

do you see my vision here

[ellethespaceunicorn]

Daddy Dearest

Title: Daddy Dearest

Rating: Explicit, 18+, Minors - DNI

Pairing: Lloyd Hansen x Female!Reader

Word Count: 1.5K

Prompts: Lloyd Hansen + Female Reader + Daddy kink + “Can you feel how much I want you?” + Darkfic, requested by @hansensgirl

Summary: Your latest client takes everything from you.

Warnings: Creep!Lloyd, Daddy kink, Dark!Daddy!Lloyd, pet name (Princess), darkfic, sex work, forced ageplay, Lloyd has a corruption kink, dead dove: do not eat, dacryphilia, violence against Reader (choking, threatening, Lloyd tackles Reader) 

A/N: Hi, Sab!!! Unbeta’d, we die like people who tried their best. 

Dividers by me

Support/Reblog banner by me

Cover Art by me

Sweet Treats Event 2024 Masterlist

My Masterlist

The dossier for your latest client reads like a warning label. It is full of kinks and fetishes you are familiar with but have never experienced yourself. And then there were a few that you had to do a little research on. 

There isn’t much to read about his personal life. You notice that he is single due to his line of work, which is only listed as ‘Contractor’. You decide to keep the conversation only about pleasing your client.

The car service drops you off at a gorgeous modern mansion in the hills. In the back of a gated community, it shines with floor-to-ceiling windows and marble stone walls. The fountain in the middle of the circular driveway spouts glistening water that shoots a bit higher out of the fish sculpture atop it to signal the top of the hour.

To say you feel out of place is an understatement. While you are used to meeting high-profile clients, you would rarely meet them at their homes. They tend to opt for penthouse suites in expensive hotels or apartments that their wives or girlfriends don’t know about. 

Your heels click and clack across the stone-paved driveway as you walk to the front door. You fix the short black dress that you picked to wear today. It wasn’t your usual style, a bit showy in places you would have seen on slinky lingerie, but you wore it so the client could get a better look at your assets. Noticing the doorbell camera to the right of the entrance, you press it and wait. 

You weren’t expecting to hear a woman’s voice.

“Mr. Hansen will be with you shortly. Please, do come in and make yourself comfortable in the lounge to the left,” she says in an eerily chipper voice.

Before you can respond, you hear the metallic click of the door unlocking. Swallowing your uncertainty, you turn the ornate handle and open the door. You peek around the door and then step through it, closing it behind you. Spotting the lounge area, you walk over and sit on the pristine white leather couch.

While looking around the room, you notice there are no photos or other personal touches that make a house into a home. You still haven’t seen what the guy looks like; he could be hideous. But he could also be just a normal dude. As if thinking about him could get his attention, you hear a cheerful whistling accompanied by quick footsteps skipping down the stairs.

Once he makes it to the entryway of the lounge, he leans against the door jamb and crosses his arm, studying you for a moment. You refuse to be the only one being scrutinized, so you cross your arms and tilt your head while staring at him.

Handsome face, even under that trashstache. Gorgeous blue eyes and soft pink lips. His yellow and beige striped polo fits him nicely, showing off his big biceps. His fitted khakis stretch across his thick thighs. You attempt to hide your excitement as you peek at the bulge in his pants, but he catches it and chuckles.

“Alright, Princess. As much as I love that dress you’re wearing, I’ve got something that is much, much cuter waiting upstairs for you.” He winks at you, stepping toward you and holding out his hand once he is towering over you.

You tentatively put your hand in his, and he helps you up off of the couch. “Thank you, Mr. Hansen.”

He tsks at your words. “Now, Princess, while I love how polite you’re being, you’re getting the name wrong,” he starts, smiling at your confused expression. “When you’re here with me, you are Princess, and I am Daddy. Go ahead, try it out.”

His thumb soothes the skin on the back of your hand while his eyes stay on your face, waiting for a response. His smile threatens to fade as the grip on your hand grows tighter.

“Daddy,” you murmur, your voice barely loud enough for him to hear.

His other hand comes to cradle your face, then boops your nose. “Good girl, Princess. Don’t worry, I’ll get you to say it louder in due time,” he promises. “Now, come on. Let’s go and get you changed into something a bit more comfortable, okay?”

You nod, and he puts a hand around the shell of his ear. You realize that he wants you to answer him. “Yes, Daddy.”

“That’s my good girl. Let’s not forget that again. Daddy might not be as patient with you next time, Princess.” He boops your chin this time and turns, pulling you behind him as he exits the room and ascends the large staircase in the foyer to the second floor. You keep up with his quick steps somehow, ending up being tugged down a long hallway to a set of double doors. He lets your hand fall from him so he can be as dramatic as he needs to be.

Turning the knobs and pushing the doors open, he steps aside and lets you assess everything. A plush pastel pink carpet greets you as you move inside the room; its fluffiness compels you to remove your heels and feel it between your toes. Everywhere you looked, from the bedding on the four-poster canopy bed to the knickknacks on countless shelves to the stuffed animals piled high in one corner, various shades of pink and white assault your vision. 

Posters on the wall range from inspirational quotes to teddy bears dressed as ballerinas to anime girls with varying stages of undress. The pink and white marble wardrobe draws your attention, and you open it to reveal more outfits than you could wear in a lifetime. The clothing, all in pastel shades, is of great quality and, surprisingly, all in your size. You close the wardrobe and step back into the center of the room.

“You don’t like it,” he surmises, closing the doors of the room as he steps inside fully.

“I’m just confused. I don’t feel comfortable in here, Mr. Hansen,” you plead, facing away from him so you don’t see when his face changes.

“You’re about to feel a lot less comfortable, Princess,” he cautions.

You jump at the sound of the lock clicking into place in the room. Whipping around, you watch helplessly as he lunges at you. His hands wrap around your neck as he tackles you to the pink carpeting. You try in vain to peel his hands away, and as you struggle, he somehow manages to get his hips between your legs. He growls when he feels the heat from your barely covered pussy. He uses his grip around your neck as an anchor so he can grind into you.

“Can you feel how much I want you?” He loosens his hold on your neck when your eyes threaten to roll back in your head. He pushes your face into the carpet when you start to sputter and cough. 

After getting your breathing under control, you lay stock-still under him, afraid to make a move that may anger him and cause you more pain. As much as you want to push him off of you, he’s already proven what he’s capable of.

“You behave, and so will I, Princess,” he huffs, slowly rising to stand over you. “Now, you put on this cute little outfit and let Daddy take care of you.” 

You follow his line of sight to clothes laid out on the bed, pulling yourself up and fixing your dress. Once you are close enough, you take in the features of the clothing he picked out-a pink denim overall dress with a stitched bouquet on the large front pocket. To wear underneath the dress is a plain white T-shirt and white briefs decorated with flowers. White knee-high socks and pink jelly sandals complete the outfit.

If you weren’t so in shock, you would scream or try to fight him. But you are past the realm of where this wasn’t going to happen. Instead, you undress as he watches. Putting on the shirt, underwear, and socks was easy enough. However, he offers to help you with the dress and gropes you here and there. He sits you down on the bed and puts your shoes on for you in an act so sweet, you almost forget where you are and what you are doing.

After looking you over, he stands to his full height in front of you and cradles your face in his hands. “I am going to ruin you. Inside and out, Princess. You have no idea,” he chuckles, using his thumb to wipe away the tear that falls from your right eye. “And please, let those tears out. They only get me more excited.” The sniffle that escapes you had him biting his lip as if to prove his point.

The remaining shred of hope you had held onto floats away in the wind as you watch him unbuckle his belt and unzip his pants. By the time he is lying next to you and catching his breath, your grip on reality has been fucked out of you. You curl into his side and smile at him, “Thank you, Daddy.”

A/N: Possibly the darkest Lloyd I have ever written. This Lloyd is a creep, but damnit…I love him.

[paperdice]

Hi is it possible to have toshinori yagi (all might) x male reader. The reader is a famous doctor who walks with a cane (following an accident). They are married and it's a secret, only a few people know (izuku doesn't know) but a journalist surprises them together and publishes it on the Internet. I'll let you imagine how the fans, Izulu and others will react (sorry if there are spelling mistakes, English is not my mother tongue.

𝐓𝐨𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐢 𝐘𝐚𝐠𝐢 (𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭) 𝐱 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 (𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭)

"I will change your name and keep it a secret, cause I love you and you love me."

⊹₊ ⋆✦ ┆You had quite the title that you lived up to, the infamous doctor that helped develop the study of quirks, finding ways to enhance both others and your own quirk for the greater good. A well respected doctor that whenever mentioned on any platform, it was always about either a great discovery or a great stepping stone for the future.

⊹₊ ⋆✦ ┆Your own quirk was a healing type, a very rare and special ability that you used to use to help others all the time. But due to an accident, for whatever reason, and you can't tell if your age also takes place in this your quirk has been having some difficulty activating. You had already been working on the study of increasing others quirks, hence this accident encouraged you to focus on the study more.

⊹₊ ⋆✦ ┆You weren't seen often outside of work, if you were out cause of some sort of announcement or you were just on the sidelines to observe whatever you needed for research. So when people do meet you in person they always compliment yourself and your work, or sometimes people praise you for helping them due to your older works. You can only imagine how devastated the public was to hear of your incident, it was big for a good while.

⊹₊ ⋆✦ ┆But behind this rather reserved hardworking doctor, there lived a years long hidden secret. The love life between you and Toshinori Yagi, the symbol of peace. The two of you have been happily married for a long duration, carefully hidden under the rug from everyone aside from a few important people in your lives. You both didn't know if there'd be a time to share this to the public anyways, the question was shrugged off.

⊹₊ ⋆✦ ┆Years ago, in the years of both all mights prime and your own, a villain attacked the area you were in. To this age you vaguely remember what happened that day, what you remember is your future husband paying you a visit in the hospital. All might himself was sitting next to your hospital bed for whatever reason, come to find out you were in a coma for about five months.

⊹₊ ⋆✦ ┆Apparently all might asked the doctors to please send a future email of your predicted awakening, if there was any sign of you waking up that is. You already had visits from family but all might?? Well truth be told he felt guilty for 'allowing' you to be so severely injured while he was saving the day. His head looming in disbelief that you had been under his protection and he failed you, a rather important figure in history too! man he messed up, he thought..

⊹₊ ⋆✦ ┆The relationship was so endearing, you balanced each other out perfectly. Always looking out for one another mentally, physically and emotionally even if being separated for work reasons in a rather long period. The simple things with such earnest thought, Toshi messaging you if you got to work/home safely or him randomly dming you "are you okay?" in the middle of the day. Then freaking out if you take hours to reply.

⊹₊ ⋆✦ ┆All the time you bring work papers home and having to look over them, or just sit in whatever spot you pick and type into computer for some time. If Toshi's home and having his own relaxation in the comfort of the shared home, he'll look over where you're working, just to take in the sight of you being busy. He loves this sight especially, your focused face double checking the pages. Toshi stares so lovingly at you everytime for years on end that you've grown used to it.

⊹₊ ⋆✦ ┆What you've also grown used to is him accidentally falling asleep while admiring you, you try and catch his eyes getting heavier before he knocks out, so you can encourage him to rest. Toshi smiles and quietly chuckles each time you tell him that, agreeing that your probably right but he rather spend the little time he has with you. His dearest husband, how could he leave at this sight of him?

⊹₊ ⋆✦ ┆Stress is common with you two, the cause always being work. So stress checks are too common, if one notices the other is a bit more impatient or anxious than usual they always step in. Though, after so many years spent together it seems like Toshi still isn't all that confident on what is the right thing to do for you. Confident or not, his efforts are always appreciated.

⊹₊ ⋆✦ ┆Dates are often, normally after overworking the whole week causing the many separations. It can get tough trying to have a date outside so you two gotta get creative with the plans. That's why it's extra special, talking about your weeks and sharing sincere words after holding them back to save it for this very moment. Funny how even at the ages y'all held now, you can still feel weakly in love.

⊹₊ ⋆✦ ┆After working on loads of research on increasing quirks, overtime you felt a guilt dragging you in the mud. You wanted this for the future heroes, for yourself to activate your healing quirk and go out to help again. But to also help Toshi, you see how at times he just wants to go out to aid the civilians or UA students. If you can just help him maintain even just a little of what he has left of his quirk, that'd make you both happy.

⊹₊ ⋆✦ ┆But not much luck lately, you found yourself in a repeated cycle to find answers. Through this cycle guilt found itself attaching to you, all week you were just thinking of helping your husband, determination was turning into desperation. Clearly distracted from your work recently, Toshi thought to pay you a visit at your work place with some snacks and his winning smile.

⊹₊ ⋆✦ ┆This wasn't a huge deal at your work place for him to just show up for you, after all,, your research can help him with his past injury. This was just him checking up on progress that's all, nobody makes a deal of it.

⊹₊ ⋆✦ ┆He finds your work space and asks if you could go outside instead, get some fresh air and have a quick chat, leaving the snacks behind. Now you were standing in the back where nobody could see you two alone. Toshi gets straight to the point after the "how you been" and "hows work", he asks what's been stressing you out so badly.

⊹₊ ⋆✦ ┆Seeing you this wrecked happened rarely, he's concerned. After some poking and reassuring words you spilled, softening his heart in the process. "it's okay, you don't need to worry about that. I just can't help myself when I see an opportunity where I could've- swooped in and saved the day.." Toshi sighs, now holding your left hand, it's bare and alone.. having abandoned the wedding ring at home. His thumb rubs on your ring finger as he continues "I've passed down one for all, even if you did help me it wouldn't go as far as you think. Because I don't have my quirk anymore."

⊹₊ ⋆✦ ┆The truth was.. He was right. And you knew that. It just didn't sit well with your heart, "I love you for trying and thinking of me.. really, I do.." his other hand was now rummaging through his pocket, "ever since you laid out your heart for me, I just- how could I have been so lucky?." he pulls out something in his pocket, but he's still hiding it with his hand.

⊹₊ ⋆✦ ┆"I'm grateful that I married you, secret or not, I'm happy it was you I fell for." confessing his love, he pulled your hand up to his face and kissed your ring finger, the item he pulled out was none other than your wedding ring. Toshi ever so gently puts it on your finger, staring at you with what you sworn you saw was heart eyes. Little did you both know, this sweet moment was going to uncover the hidden secret that was lonesome from the public eyes.

⊹₊ ⋆✦ ┆About a day later an article was published from a trusted journalist, "Symbol of Peace All might and Infamous Doctor y/n's Hidden Marriage" ...What.

⊹₊ ⋆✦ ┆It was spread like wild fire all over the internet, what made it worse, there was solid proof right there. Toshi holding your hand, kissing it and placing the ring. With another hidden shot of the shared kiss before heading back to work. Worldwide. you couldn't even go to work that day, neither of you could.

⊹₊ ⋆✦ ┆Not because of hate no, just questions about the relationship and how long y'all been together ect ect. There was a mixed of reactions, the people who didn't approve two men dating (homophobia), the group who didn't care and supported, then there was the all might simps left heartbroken that he was taken all along. Fortunately the support was higher than the hate, because why care?

⊹₊ ⋆✦ ┆If you two seemly have been married and kept this secret for an assuming while, why bother hating? You two were happy, there were even theories out that suggested you two had to hide it due to fear of homophobia. All might- Toshinori, has saved so many people and inspired others worldwide, the least they can do is support his love life, it's not like he can control his heart.

⊹₊ ⋆✦ ┆Young Midoriya messaged Toshi with panicking texts, asking the same questions everyone else did, asking why he didn't trust to tell him but it's okay that he didn't and how he's happy for him.

It was a lot.., Toshi was all slumped and apologetic to you about not being careful and "stupid" enough to take you out and do that rather than being in closed doors.

⊹₊ ⋆✦ ┆That's when he felt like he had a good idea of telling the public everything, to make a video. Which you knew it wasn't going to work, you saw how badly he wanted to get it over with that he forgot how awkward he can get on camera plus it would be so cringe. You let him discover this on his own, dozens of restarts later he came to the same conclusion.

⊹₊ ⋆✦ ┆You patted his back with a smile, "how about we do it in person? A conference so we can answer all the questions."

⊹₊ ⋆✦ ┆So that's what you both decided on, Toshi was understandably, a bit nervous. Just for the worries to be washed away with rather respectful asks, very few had made you both uncomfortable but never extreme. It was a relief to see how many people had accepted it so quickly, support on the internet with cute fanart of you two, people saying how you were both lucky catches for one another.

in the end, it was all okay.

How convenient would you say it is to be needing more information on teenagers quirks that the principal from UA invited you over to observe the hero course students train.

where your husband worked at.

You stood outside the school building, it's rather intimidating height staring down at you. "Hello! I'm down here!" A voiced called, and your already familiar with it. Looking down seeing none other than principal nezu, he's so small and he was waving at you with a smile.

"I'm glad you could you make it, I thought I'd help you with your analysis regarding to better understanding the youths quirks." Nezu's smile never left and his little eyes was just adorable.

You smiled back to the principal, "Could you kindly tell me how will you be aiding me? Am I seeing the students training up close?" Questioning what he meant by his words within his invitation. "Right now they're training in our gym gamma, I'll lead you the way and tell you the details!"--

-Walking in you saw Eraserhead, Ectoplasm and your husband. But currently Eraserhead and Toshi had their backs towards you, it didn't seem like they were waiting for you. Weird..

"Have you two already forgotten who was paying a visit today?" Nezu called them out from behind, his voice perked up their ears as they both turned towards you. Aizawas face was slightly confused but his face relaxed after, meanwhile Toshi's face lit up.

Aizawa questioned Nezu, "Oh, it was today?. Thought it was next week." He rubbed the back of his neck. "W-what, I wasn't told any of this, you were planning on visiting?" It was so cute how flustered he was to see you, you could tell he was holding back excitement. everyone could

While both you and nezu were explaining things, some students noticed you.

"Ouu is All mights boothang came and visited him? So cute!" Mina teased from afar, she was loud enough that a good chuck of the other students heard and looked over.

"Awh, that's sweet, All Might's one lucky guy huh." Jiro smiled looking straight at Toshi. He didn't know what to say, so you had to speak for him, "A visit is part of why I'm here, I just need to gather up some info from you kids quirks then I'm out"

After Aizawa told them not to get distracted, you were then told by nezu to watch the students close one by one and get whatever you needed. So you did, but not before asking to step aside with Toshi first.

Sure you could speak to him after the examination or at home, but you had to cram this into schedule and you knew you'd be staying at work a bit later tonight. So why not chat a bit now?

The whole time as you two spoke you heard all kinds of wingman type of hyping up in the background from the students, some of them at least.

It was getting to Toshi since his face was all pink and he was starting to stumble on words a bit. That went on like that, for the entire time you were there. It was very sweet you can't lie, some asked about the relationship, a handful mentioned about your research and few didn't say anything. And one asked about where you got the sick cane Kaminari.

By the end of it all you did gain some things that you needed but now you also gained a bunch of mini wingmans by your side.

"You know, if we were exposed a bit sooner, I think I'd invite them to our wedding."

"Seriously.."

Ahhh I really hope you like it, sorry for the wait I really wanted to nail this one! It was fun writing the ideas and story build, come back and roll again if you're thinking of another request!

[wordslikesilver]

I’m LOVING all of your Elden Ring write ups! I’m curious as to what you think the endgame of Godwyn’s death root is for TLB. Unless the tarnished Elden Lord is able to somehow grant Godwyn’s body its death (or go with the Fia or Frenzied Flame ending), what’s to keep death root from eventually engulfing ALL of TLB at the end of the day? I suppose there would have to be different outcomes for each ending.

(Also RIP Godwyn I cry about your cursed fate as Marika’s son every day)

Godwyn is SO WEIRD because we get so much gorgeous symbolism around him right, he’s LITERALLY Baldur from Norse mythology, golden child loved by everyone whose death brings about ragnarok, even his afterlife is giving Baldur, the ritual needing everyone in the world to weep for Baldur, weep for Baldur! And it’s not enough. But who IS he, why do we know so little about how he lived and what he was like? Every other demigod except MAYBE rykard we know pretty intimately tbh, but Godwyn was friends with a dragon and a hero for those efforts and… what? What else was he? He was kind to Miquella and Malenia, maybe. He evaded being cursed by the hornsent physically, but apparently it was his fate that bore the greatest curse of all. His themes also give Hel from Norse mythology, ruler of the underworld who was literally half alive and half dead, literally like the split was right down the middle of her body. Funnily enough, it was Hel who refused to allow Baldur to resurrect because they didn’t get everything in the world to weep for him, one giantess refused to do so. Anyways, it’s giving Hel because golden boy’s body is alive but the soul is dead within. Half alive, half dead. Super interesting btw that in the mythology, Baldur’s body is perfectly invulnerable except to mistletoe, and Godwyn’s body was perfectly untouched by Destined Death, it was his soul that was slain.

And then we learn NOTHING about him in the DLC! What?! What the fuck??? He’s got an entourage of death knights who sought the proxies of his corpse that have spread via the roots of the Erdtree and possibly the Scadutree by extension and then we learn fucking dick all about him. It’s so weird! It’s as if Miquella researched how to resurrect a demigod using Godwyn (Miquella of the Eclipse—more Griffith imagery btw) and then after he learned what he needed or perhaps learned it wouldn’t be possible with Godwyn, he moved on to learning about other means that could facilitate using Radahn’s soul and Mohg’s body. It’s SO curious, what IS Godwyn to the story? It’s like he acts as both catalyst and stepping stone to four different people’s grand plan (Marika, Ranni, Fia and Miquella) but he wasn’t even an empyrean? The perfect golden child wasn’t an empyrean wtf??

I believe his body growing the way it is is similar in nature to Scarlet Rot. Godwyn’s very body is becoming an expression of infectious divinity. Its spread feels inevitable and endless and incurable, yes, but by completing the game through any ending in particular, you still affect the state of the world to a degree that it affects the other divinities living within it. This is why Fia’s ending allows him his true ascension and in the others, it can be presumed that his power never achieves its true potential. In some ways, Fia’s ending is practically allowing Godwyn his justice for being a tool to so many, but only in the way that Radahn is honoured by Miquella. He’s still forced into his godhood whilst we are his Elden Lord, it’s like a role reversal of what Miquella does to Radahn. We as Elden Lord wield Destined Death, we would indeed be able to slay Godwyn if we chose to do so. Technically, we wield the very power that made Maliketh the Grim Reaper of demigods himself.

There’s more curious things surrounding Godwyn as well. The wording of Fortissax’s remembrance and the quest steps of Fia’s quest make it sound as if Fortissax is either keeping something alive within Godwyn which prevents Fia from doing her job, or his mere presence after being so corrupted by the death blight is preventing Fia from completing her task. You have to slay him if you wish to obtain the great rune of death, to unlock Fia’s ending but it’s weird. Does Fortissax wish for Godwyn not to come back? Does he perhaps not want Godwyn to ascend as the Prince of Death? You start to wonder if thematically, he’s more of a parallel to an Empyrean’s shadow, a mad dog and dear friend who’s left with only a single, eternal purpose in their life once their sworn charge moves on towards godhood, or is he more like St Trina, begging Miquella not to become a god because of how tragic the life afterwards would be? The most miserable part of ALL of this speculation is that we literally just have no idea what Godwyn would’ve wanted. We don’t know if we’re forcing him into something like Radahn, if he struggled against the Black Knives not to be killed, if he even knew what he’d become. We don’t know if he knelt to the black knives willingly and reassured his mother that this was the only way and he was happy to be nothing more than a sacrifice. If he told Ranni “Take me, if you must have your vengeance on my family.” Or if he whispered to his dearest friend, dread Fortissax, “I’m scared. Please don’t let me die.”

Godwyn FASCINATES me but the sheer lack of what we know about him as a person makes analyzing his story SUCH a headache. That said, he easily has some of the most peak imagery surrounding him in the entire game, right down to his colours being Black and Gold, very constantly recurring colour themes whenever talking about Death (death knights, maliketh armour, death lightning, some others). If only we could learn more, truly. If only, if only.

[terrestrialnoob]

Strange Friends

Fandom: Danny Phantom, Young Justice (cartoon)

Ships: N/A

Rating: Gen.

Word count: 8,228

Summary:

Being heroes has a negative affect on Danny and Valerie's grades, but luckily, they can sacrifice a weekend with Tetslaff to get their History grades up. A two hour bus ride to Chicago, and they find themselves in an anthropology museum when a nearby robot attack drives everyone outside. Luckily, the local heroes, The Martian Manhunter and his never-before-seen sidekick, are there to save everyone! Or maybe the Martians are the ones who need saving?

Danny and Valerie stepped off the bus in front of the Chicago Museum of Anthropology. The two stuck together mainly because there were only a dozen students there and everyone else were nerds and jocks these two didn’t have the time or patience to deal with. Coach Tetslaff checked the bus for stragglers then shouted at the assembled teens before her.

“Alright, everyone here is in danger of failing history, whether in my class or another teacher’s. So this is your punish- I mean, extra credit opportunity; you’re going to spend your entire weekend here with me. Today, you and your partner are going to choose any exhibit currently on display in the museum and write a report on it. Then tomorrow, you’ll both present your report not only to the class, but also the museum curator Professor Summer Davies.”

She stared out at the unfocused faces that had heard this speech ten times already, then she sighed and continued, “Meet here in front of the museum at 12:50 for the group lunch, if you didn’t sign up for the group meals, you’ll have to go find and pay for your own food. Now, let’s get to it people!”

“Ugh, I can’t believe I have to spend my hard earned weekend doing school work.” Valerie rolled her eyes and glanced at Danny. They’d chosen to sign up as partners on this fieldtrip because Danny knew Valerie would take him seriously and listen to his ideas, and Valerie knew Danny was dependable, despite being a goof, and neither of them would push all the work onto the other.

“Tell me about it,” Danny said as the two made their way into the museum. It was as interesting as most museums are when you’re forced to go instead of choosing to go; Danny would have loved to visit and learn about this stuff any other day, but today it was homework. There was a display on the history of kitchen technology, an intro to forensic anthropology, a collection of Native American musical instruments, and something about the evolution of Victorian house design.

“This should be fascinating,” Danny said, taking notes in a spiral notebook he’d been carrying with him.

“I’m very fascinated by the development of the knife,” Valerie said as she took a photo of some restored kitchen knives that were over a hundred years old when the security guard was turned away.

“I don’t know, they can’t cut ghosts,” Danny teased.

Valerie raised a playful eyebrow at him, “They do when I use them.”

“We both know that’s not how that works,” Danny chuckled and made another note, though, the Forensic Anthropology might be the best option, it was the widest category, and it could be useful with superhero work, two birds - one stone. They had been trying to improve that part of their lives. Valerie and Sam were trying to drag Danny to a workout every day, while Danny was working with Tucker to refine their ghost database and improve their equipment. There had to be something useful they could learn from researching forensic science, even if it was specifically focused on figuring out human history.

Suddenly, there was a loud explosion from outside.

Danny rolled up the notebook and stuck it in his jeans pocket as he and the rest of the students left the building in a group under the shouted orders of Coach Tetslaff. Outside, there was a crowd of scared citizens running past the museum. Danny and Valerie shared a look and, while Tetslaff was distracted by the other students, turned and headed towards the source of the commotion instead of away from it. Barely a block away from the museum, there was a large figure fighting two smaller figures in the air.

Once they got close enough, Danny recognized one of the smaller figures as Martian Manhunter, and another was smaller but very similar in appearance. She looked like a teen girl with Martian green skin, long red hair, a navy blue skirt matching the color of both their capes, and while she wore a white shirt instead of Manhunter’s black body suit, they both had the same red X’s on their chests and gold pins holding their capes (that probably only Danny could see at this distance with his weird ghost eyes). They were clearly working together despite Danny never having heard of Martian Manhunter having a sidekick.

Their enemy looked to be an nine-and-a-half-foot tall robot, with six long spindly arms sticking out from it's extended torso. There were sharp claws on two with arcs of electricity flitting between its fingers, blasters on two others that shot globs of white hot plasma, and the last too were fucking flaming swords. It flew around in the sky about fifteen feet in the air using rockets built into its feet, but it wasn’t a stable floating, the way its rockets were designed, it couldn’t stay still in the air.

“Wow, a real superhero fight!” Danny marveled as he watched, uh, Martian Girl? – sure – as she dodged one of the robot’s plasma blasts.

“And what are we? Fake superheroes?” Valerie shook her head, but watched with deep intrigue as Martian Girl kept the robots attention on her while Martian Manhunter flew up behind it, raising his hands towards it.

Danny could almost see the psychic energy radiating off Martian Manhunter as the robot’s two blaster arms were torn from its body followed quickly by the two claw arms. Then Danny felt more, stronger psychic energy coming from Martian Girl as she turned to face it. The rest of the robot was immediately crushed into a ball of jagged metal and electrical sparks. Danny couldn’t tell if it was because it was stuck between the two Martian’s telekinetic powers or if it was all Martian Girl. But Danny could practically see it, the psychic power rolling off her in waves and hitting the robot along with Martian Manhunter’s power at its back. Looking closely, Martian Manhunter had a lot of control, he could thread a needle with his psychic abilities, but Martian Girl had so much raw psychic energy flowing out of her, it sent shivers down Danny’s spine. It almost lit up his ghost sense, like it was enough emotional energy for him to sense it but not the right type of energy to fully ping for him; it kind of left him wanting his sense to go off to just acknowledge the power the two of them had up there. He glanced at Valerie to see if she felt it too, but no, it was just him.

The Martians lowered to the ground now the robot wasn’t a threat, and Danny heard the girl say, “- didn’t have a mind for us to read, so it’s not like we could have found out what its plan was.”

“There are more ways to get information from an enemy than simply reading their mind,” Manhunter explained, “And if this machine had remained intact, we could have downloaded information from its memory.”

“Oh, hello Megan, of course we could have!” Martian Girl said and facepalmed. “I’m sorry, Uncle J’onn, I shouldn’t have destroyed it like that.”

“Miss Martian,” Martian Manhunter pointedly said, and she meeped and mumbled an apology.

He sighed and said, “You are still new to this. I had years as a m’hontrr before coming to Earth, and more as a private investigator before becoming a superhero. You will learn these things with time and experience.”

Danny glanced over at Valerie, a familiar red glow in her eyes. “See anything useful?”

Valerie sighed, blinking the nanites away from her eyes, “No, there’s too much pollution to get a clear rocket trail, and its power signature isn’t unique enough to stand out.”

“And how would you know that?” Martian Manhunter asked, turning and flying over to them.

“And why are you here? We told everyone to evacuate the area!” Martian Girl said, coming up next to, apparently, her uncle.

“Sorry, it’s my fault,” Danny said rubbing the back of his neck and trying to look embarrassed on purpose, “I wanted to see real superheroes; I just couldn’t help it! You guys are so cool!”

Martian Girl blushed a little herself and tried, and failed, to firmly state, “It was still really dangerous and - you know, shouldn’t do it again.”

“Yes ma’am,” Danny said and gave an over-serious salute. She smiled and nodded at him.

“We should get back to the rest of the class,” Valerie quickly said pushing on Danny’s shoulder, “We don’t want our teacher to get worried about us.”

Danny weaved out from her hand and quickly pulled his notebook out of his pocket, “Actually, real quick. Can we get your autographs?”

Martian Manhunter nodded, and Martian Girl, or Miss Martian as she wrote it, signed her name before handing it over to her uncle to sign as well, and finally back to Danny.

“Good luck on your robot hunt!” Danny called as he dashed to where Valerie was already walking down the street.

Once they got back at the museum, Coach Tetslaff gave them an earful about running off alone during a supervillain attack, they should really know better. The two then learned it was going to be about three hours before the students of Casper High were allowed back into the museum; security needed to do a routine check to make sure nothing was stolen in the confusion. Coach Tetslaff decided the kids could go to the library to get a head start on their projects or go for lunch early, but made it abundantly clear that Dangerous Robot Attacks will not excuse them from doing their reports.

>><< 

The boy had felt weird to M’gann. She almost didn’t notice it, after her own guilt of messing up by destroying the robot and the chaos and fear she still felt from both herself and everyone around them at the beginning of the fight. It was odd enough that she hadn’t sensed any fear from either of the two teenagers, but she wasn’t sure what counted as a scary experience for the normal human teenager. It was similar to how the rest of the team was, so maybe this was just something teens on Earth were used to? But her uncle had heard the girl say something strange, and when he and M’gann went to see who had been watching their fight, she’d gotten a strange aura from the boy.

He had dark hair, light skin, and blue eyes, and he wore a white t-shirt with red stylized Saturn-like planet symbol in the center, and normal looking jeans despite the notebook he’d managed to stuff in one of its pockets. Very normal in appearance. But, the unusual thing was that he seemed to put out an aura of – it wasn’t quite emotion, but it wasn’t not emotion – and if it was emotion then it was so extremely raw and concentrated compared to most humans, like there wasn’t anything physical keeping the emotions in, or no, that’s not it. He just wasn’t quite… Solid? Human? No, no. She could see he was definitely solid and human, but there was just something off about him.

And the girl he was with. She wore a yellow tank top and an orange skirt with thick gold bracers on each arm and a red backpack, that seemed off somehow, but M'gann hadn't seen a lot of backpacks yet to be sure. She had dark skin and hair, but her eyes seemed to change color the closer she got and M’gann couldn’t tell if they were a shade of red or brown or green - or somehow switched in between. But she didn’t feel unusual to other humans, no matter how inhumanly her eyes behaved, and who was M'gann to say that human eyes couldn’t change like that?

But then again, Uncle J’onn seemed to have sensed something off too. He psychicly told her that he suspected the two might be involved with the robot, perhaps sent there to observe how easily the Martian duo could dispatch with it. He asked her to follow them to see what they were doing in the city while he tried to find clues off the remains of the robot.

M’gann wasn’t sure if he actually thought the teens were important or if he was just getting her out of the way after her screw-up. While the psychic link was a lot clearer on Earth, there was also an expected level of polite, what she deemed, “not looking”, not just for normal humans, but other psychics as well. She’d learned from the team too, that entering anyone’s mind without express permission and forewarning was not a good thing to do and could even hurt a human, or Kryptonian, who wasn’t expecting it. And Uncle J’onn wanted her to practice vocalizing her words more and only use a psychic link to communicate with other heroes. There were still so many rules she needed to get used to on Earth.

She followed the two humans to The Chicago Museum of Anthropology. She’d gone there with Uncle J’onn for one of her first days on Earth; it gave her a basic understanding of the history of humanity, how the species and society developed on Earth. She’d enjoyed the visit.

She stayed at a distance and morphed into her human form before venturing closer. She watched as they stayed with a group of about twelve high school students under the supervision of a large, muscular woman who liked to give orders. The group of students soon dispersed, apparently they’d come to the museum for a school project but the museum would be temporarily closed.

She quickly hurried to close behind her two targets, she wasn’t going to lose them. This was her first solo mission on Earth, she had already messed up with the robot, she wasn’t going to disappoint her uncle again by letting her targets get lost in a crowd. She got close enough, she herd the boy say, “Did you pay for the provided meals?”

“No. Full offense to Tetslaff, I do not trust her taste in food,” The girl responded.

“Yeah, I bet she’s taking the poor idiots who signed up for it to a sports bar or something,” the boy said and took out his phone, “The restaurant finder app I downloaded so we could find places that were vegan friendly for Sam doesn’t have to be used just for vegans. We can put in whatever kind of food we want and it’ll find something for us.”

“Anything but burgers,” the girl said.

“There’s an amazing pizza place a couple blocks down this street,” M’gann said behind them, and suddenly realized - she was just supposed to be listening this conversation. Hello, Megan! How could you mess this up already!

All three stopped and the two of them turned around to give her funny looks. “Sorry, I was just… uhm… also hungry and trying to think of a place to eat! And I’m – I…”

No, no, you’re making it worse! She panicked and suddenly shouted, “Do you want to be friends with me?”

The two stared at her in shock, then the boy made sure his friend was looking at him before he gripped his hands in the air in front of him. The girl shook her head, raised an eyebrow, and held a hand towards M'gann. The boy nodded and smiled and repeated his hand movements from before and then tapping his thumb and pointer finger together twice and rubbed one hand over the side of the other? Then, for some reason, the girl sighed and nodded.

The boy turned to M'gann and smiled as he said, “I like pizza.”

“Yeah, pizza’s good,” The girl added, dryly, each word, taking effort to but still, becoming less hostile, more friendly. “You live around here?”

M’gann smiled, she wasn’t going to fail. All she had to do was keep an eye on them, right? And it wasn’t like she didn’t want more human friends. “No, but my uncle does. I’ve visited him a couple times now, so I know where some of the good places are. I’m Megan, by the way. Megan Morse.”

The girl looked unimpressed, but held out her hand for M’gann to take. “I’m Valerie and he’s Danny. We’re not from around here either.”

“Oh? Then what brings you to Chicago?” M’gann asked as she shook Valerie’s hand. She used the physical contact as a bridge - a cover to scan the surface level of thoughts in her head without her knowing. There wasn’t anything too bad. Valerie was suspicious of M’gann’s eavesdropping and on guard against her. She didn’t want to trust some random girl who seemed way too friendly, but not wanting to come off as on guard to tip her off to just how suspicious she was. There was something else, she felt Danny was being too trusting? But that did nothing for her instincts. She reminded M’gann of Robin; his mind also raced with worst case scenarios and possible threats and solutions to those threats, even if they weren’t real.

“School trip,” Danny answered not taking M’gann’s offered hand and making her awkwardly have to put it down again. “We have to make a report-presentation-thing on one of the exhibits at the anthropology museum.”

“Oh, yeah, humans are very interesting,” M’gann said before she could stop herself.

“I love those humans and all their humanity,” Danny said with a snort and Valerie elbowed him.

“So, where’s this amazing pizza place?” Valerie asked and M’gann pointed behind them.

“Down a little further, I don’t know if it’s “amazing” amazing, but I like it.”

“Lead the way, M’lady,” Danny said, and motioned for her to walked next to him. He was starting to remind her of Wally, tying a little to hard to make her laugh, but still succeeding.

The three made their way down the street where M’gann had pointed; Danny talked a lot while Valerie watched M’gann with wary eyes. They were from a smaller city called Amity Park, northwest of Chicago and surrounded by a lot of wilderness, near Lake Eerie, with two E’s.

Danny chuckled at his own joke, then asked, “So, did you see that superhero fight? I didn’t know Martian Manhunter had a sidekick, but she seems pretty cool.”

M’gann tried to hide her blush and lie, “I didn’t get a good look at it. It can be pretty dangerous to get too close.”

“What do you know about them? Martian Manhunter and Miss Martian?” Valerie said her first thing since they started walking together.

M’gann thought for a moment about what she could and should say. “I’ve seen them around and heard the news talk about them. I don’t know if she likes being called a sidekick though, I know that other heroes don’t like it. Like Robin and Kid Flash.”

Valerie rolled her eyes, “She’s fighting crime with Martian Manhunter, wearing a matching outfit, and has a matching name all for the purpose of learning how to be a superhero from him, right?”

“Well, I guess so,” M’gann admitted. Is that what a sidekick is? M’gann thought there was a translation issue or something, that it was an insult. Why do Wally and Red Arrow hate it so much?

“Then she’s a sidekick, and there’s nothing wrong with being a sidekick,” Valerie confidently said and M’gann decided that she was right.

“And! It’s a good idea to learn from people who’ve been doing it longer than you and have more experience.” He gave Valerie some kind of look as he continued, “Even if you’re the same age, the extra time spend doing a thing can make one person a lot better at it.”

M'gann understood that, the rest of the Team were way better than she was and all of them are younger than she is.

Valerie raised her eyebrow at Danny, “Even if the newer person does more training than the older one because she actually takes being a hero seriously?”

M’gann looked between the two of them and asked, “I’m sorry, are you still talking about the Martians?”

Danny shook his head, “Sorry, there are heroes in our town too. Phantom, who’s been a hero for over a year and a half now, and Valiant, who’s only just started being a hero.”

“But she’s a better hero even though she’s newer,” Valerie added quickly to Danny’s explanation.

“You think she’s a better hero,” Danny corrected, “But I think she’s still really wild, overly violent, and messes up a lot. Valiant doesn’t have to try to intimidate everyone she thinks is a bad guy, it’s better being friendly sometimes. And Phantom does take it seriously, he’s just having fun while being a hero.”

“Valiant is just driven to get the job done!” Valerie defended, “And Phantom goofs off too much. Not everything needs to be pun, you can just catch the bad guy and be done with it, no jokes necessary.”

“Excuse you, puns are an artform,” Danny said with an overdramatic handwave.

“Oh please,” Valerie said exasperatedly.

M’gann laughed, they really reminded her of Wally and Robin; they must have been best friends for a long time now. They finally reached the pizzeria her uncle had taken her to when they’d had their trip to the anthropology museum. It was a quaint little family run place that was pretty emptied out. It should have been the second half of the lunch rush, but the robot attack must have scared everyone off.

“So, do you know how old she is?” Valerie asked as the three ordered their food.

“Sorry?” M’gann asked, she’d been distracted wondering what was a normal food order for a human. Last time she’s coping Megan’s order from episode 24 , and that was apparently too much food for a normal human teenage girl.

“We were just talking about how it doesn’t matter how old you are,” Danny said, and M’gann couldn’t tell if he was trying to avoid their previous argument or still trying to win.

“She’s the Martian equivalent of a teenager,” M’gann said, but realized halfway through that, a human wouldn’t know that. “Probably.”

Danny looked at her with wide eyes, “Really? So Martians really do age at a different rate than humans? That’s so cool!”

“You might too,” Valerie said under her breath, but Danny ignored it and M’gann didn’t understand what it meant.

“Do you know how long she’s been on earth?” Danny asked with growing excitement as they sat at a booth in the corner; the two of them on one side with her on the other.

M’gann couldn’t resist feeling that same excitement, very few people showed interest in her normal life. “Yeah, about three months!”

 “How do y- I mean, does she like it here?” Danny asked, his excitement becoming so strong, M’gann didn’t think anything of his tripping over his words.

“I re- really think she likes it.”

Valerie raised an eyebrow at her, “Why do you think that?”

M’gann floundered for a moment, “Uh, prob- probably because she’s still here. Like, if she could get to Earth, then she could get back to Mars, but she’s chosen to stay.”

Valerie gave her an oddly intense look, “Is that really how you know?”

“I bet she has a lot of friends here,” Danny said, seemingly saving M’gann from answering, before he added, “I mean, you are really friendly and I like you well enough.”

M’gann blushed, “No, no! I’m not…”

“You don’t hide it very well,” Valerie said and M’gann dropped her head in her hands.

“Oh, come on, don't be hard on her!” Danny said and playfully shoved Valerie's arm, “I only knew because you have the same, like, aura as Miss Martian. If you hadn’t come up to us so soon after we met you in costume, I wouldn’t have made the connection. And don’t let Val get to you, she only realized after I pointed it out.”

Valerie glared at him as she pulled her wallet out again and passed some money over to Danny. “I had all the clues though, and would have put it together eventually. Unlike you, I don’t cheat.”

“You’re not going to tell anyone, are you?” M’gann had to ask while peaking between her hands. She can’t believe she messed up this much in one day. Who knew some humans could read Martian auras?

“Of course not! We’re not snitches,” Danny said, and shared a glance at Valerie, who shook her head violently and mouthed the word “no”. Danny shrugged and turned to M’gann to whisper, “We’re actually in a similar situation.”

M’gann blinked at them, and was just about to ask what he meant when there was an explosion. The front wall of the pizzeria was blasted open and a robot that looked exactly like the one they’d seen earlier stepped through the hole. Its featureless face locked onto M’gann; it lifted one of its blasters and shot a ball of hot plasma at them.

All three teens ducked under the table and Valerie asked, “Didn’t you just junk that guy?”

“It must be a new one!” M’gann said as another blast tore through the wall behind them, shattering the plastic table and dropping a pile wall and roof on top of them. A second robot stepped through the new hole in the wall and locked onto M’gann.

M’gann had somehow ended up on top of the rubble, but Danny wasn’t visible and she saw Valerie’s arm sticking out from under a chunk of table for a moment before it gave a thumbs up and was pulled completely under. She did a quick psychic scan the pizzeria, there was only the three of them and the robots in the building. Her eyes glowed red and her skin shifted to Martian green, her face became slightly less human proportioned and her red and white cloths turned into her hero costume. She telekinetically lifted herself from the rubble and motioned to lift the debris off her new friends, but they acted before she could.

Danny, or who she assumed was Danny, phased through the rubble and floated above it. If she hadn’t been looking at his face moments ago, she might not have recognized him. He was the same general size and build, but subtle changes. He had a sharper chin and ears and nose, and even sharper teeth, but he also had bigger, rounder eyes that glowed a toxic green. His hair was the same length, but so pure white, it looked more like mist than strands. His clothes changed too; his t-shirt and jeans had been replaced by a jumpsuit. It was mostly black but with a big white rectangle around the neck that became a little thicker and lest plastic-like as it curved over his shoulders. There were white gloves that reached half way up his forearms, and a pair of white patches on his elbows that looked to be made of the sturdier white material around his shoulders. Thick white lines went from his armpits down the sides of his torso to a white plastic looking utility belt. His boots were white too, coming up to half his calves and having patches of the sturdy white over his knees. There was a hero symbol over his heart, a white P where the long straight side of it looked almost like it was either on fire or fading into mist. Phantom.

At nearly the same time, the rubble shifted and some of the smaller bits flew out in different directions and something that looked like a robot stood up. A black helmet that encircled her entire head with only a red triangular faceplate breaking up the black, except for small lines that seemed to mimic the look of computer circuits that branched off the sold red into the black. The small pattern pulsated red light from a set of red triangles on the center of her chest, one solid while the other was a thin line around it. There, the pattern branched off in all directions, but with specific places where the red energy settled into solid lines that didn’t fade with the pulsing energy. Two solid red triangles on her shoulders, mimicking shoulder pads, and a thick red line around her waist like a belt that had a sharp downward point in the center that echoed the points of the triangles on her chest. There were also red lines around her wrists and calves that made it look like she was wearing gloves and boots. It was like she was covered in a black and red circuit board, but after a moment, the red pulsating glow of the circuitry faded, leaving her in a mostly black armored suit.

M'gann had been distracted by the sudden appearance of these two and was shocked when Danny appeared in front of her, hands raised in a defensive position as a bast of white plasma shattered across a shield of green energy that suddenly surrounded them. There was the sound of a machine powering up and a blast of red energy shot from a blaster that sprung into existence on Valerie’s arm, the red circuitry around it glowing momentarily before fading to black again. The blast hit the robot that shot at them from across the building. Valerie hit the joint of one of its arms, partially melting it and limiting its movement. Two shots hit the shield behind them, as the second robot moved closer to them through the wall leading behind the pizzeria. It reached its electrified claw towards Valerie.

“Look out!” Danny shouted and lowered the shield so he could fire a blast of green energy at the robot reaching for Valerie, causing it to stumble backwards. But she ignored it and fired at the first robot again, hitting the exact same place as last time and melting off its arm completely.

M’gann used her telekinesis to throw the robot that tried to grab Valerie out the hole in the wall it had come through. Danny flew out after it, firing his green energy at it. She followed outside and saw him flying around erratically. She was worried for a moment before she realized, Danny was too fast for the robot to be able to aim its blasters at him, continually firing into the open sky and missing its target. M’gann decided to take advantage of its distraction and telekinetically tore the blaster arms from the robot’s body. It turned its attention towards her and must have seen her as an easier target. It dived for her and she pushed it back with her mind so it stood frozen in air, rockets blasting with greater force trying to break through the invisible wall she’d put in front of it. Suddenly, it was hit with a rain of green energy balls, they burned holes through its outer shell and melted through its electrical insides. Its rockets failed and it crumbled to the ground in pieces.

The two quickly returned inside to find Valerie in the middle of a sword fight. There were melted stumps where the robot’s blaster arms and left claw arm had been melted off, and Valerie was wielding a black sword made of the same material as her suit that glowed with red energy. She was able to block the two flaming swords that bore down on her with the all the artfulness of a poorly rendered video game opponent. But it had one too many arms for her to keep up with and a clawed arm weaved its way through her defenses to grab onto her shoulder. It tried to send an electrical shock into her, but the black suit turned red under its touch as it absorbed the energy. M’gann could actually follow the energy through the suit’s circuitry over to her sword, that glowed brighter and started to melt through the flaming blades it was pressed against.

M'gann decided that was enough of that and threw the robot against the wall with her telekinesis, and regretted it immediately. The clawed hand had been embedded deeper into Valerie than M’gann had realized, and as it flew across the room, it tore through Valerie’s shoulder, taking some of her suit and skin with it. She cried out in pain and turned to look at M’gann who threw her hands over her mouth.

“Oh my god! Oh my god! I’m so sorry!” She quickly hovered over to Valerie, but she didn’t know what to do about the injury. She didn’t have any medic training yet. It was on her list, and there was even a training session for the team planned for it, but she hadn’t done it yet. How was she going to fix this? Valerie had just risked her life to help M’gann and she’d been repaid by getting her shoulder torn up!

“It’s fine,” Valerie said in a such a firm voice it almost convinced M'gann, but it was clear by the way Valerie moved; it wasn't fine but she didn’t want attention drawn to it. Valerie cautiously walked over to the robot, her sword was somehow pulled into her suit and replaced with a blaster that she trained on the downed robot. When it didn’t react to her coming up to it, she placed her hand on it. M’gann could see the red circuit board pattern spread from the red pad of her hand over to the robot like an infection. After a moment Valerie said, “I have a source, and we should go now.”

Danny nodded and asked, “What did you find out?”

>><< 

J’onn was worried. He sent M’gann to follow the odd teenagers who had watched their fight with the robot much closer than any sensible person would. He knew teenagers were often unaware of the level of danger around them, especially when famous heroes were present, but there was something strange about these two. The girl had something strange in her eyes, something that glowed and changed color, and the boy -  there was simply something wrong about him, something wrong with the way psychic energy moved around him made him seem – less physical somehow, but J’onn couldn’t begin to guess why, what, or how. He sensed no malicious intent from them, if anything, he sensed a strong desire to protect from the boy and a powerful desire to fulfill responsibility from the girl.

He wasn’t sure if M’gann would have been safer following them or staying with him, but this was her first public excursion as his sidekick and he knew for certain that he didn’t want her fighting a robot that seemed tailor made to hurt him. The flaming swords, the hot plasma, the projected electrified field to prevent phasing into them, and no mind to read. The only clues they had were the strange teenagers and a serial number on the hunk of metal that had once been part of the robot. He would trust M’gann not to get too close to the humans or come to him if trouble stirred. She was naive and inexperienced but not an idiot or a pushover. She would keep proper distance, he was sure; reconnaissance was what she was learning with the team after all.

J’onn’s personal computer was patched into a number of databases, and it was a simple task to search for the source of the serial number. It belonged to a robotics company that specialized in custom joint systems. The piece with his serial number had been part of a large order by the Defense Lab of Classified Exobiology, a lab that researched alien life. The D.L.C.E. was a private organization that was owned by a parent company called VladCo. that also owned an advanced technologies development firm, a paranormal research lab, a pop-technologies designing firm, and several other smaller labs and factories, including the company that made the specialized joints. It was an unfortunately common scheme of a company buying from itself to make money; not illegal but shady nonetheless.

J’onn went to the listed address of the D.L.C.E. and found a very normal looking office building. He did a mental sweep of the building but didn’t find anything other than the usual office drudgery. He disguised himself as human, one of his usuals of a white man in a white suit under a beige trench coat and matching fedora, and entered the building. There was a middle-aged woman sitting at the front desk that J’onn didn’t need psychic powers to know was bored.

He pulled out an old police badge and prepared to sweet talk his way past the bored woman. “Excuse me, miss, but I’m from the-”

She didn’t wait for him to finish before pushing a button on a dashboard on her desk, “There’s another goo here for you, Dr. Copen.”

“I told them to give me a few more days!” Dr. Copen seemed to respond from the other side, and then said, “Send them down, I’ll come up with something.”

The woman hummed disbelievingly. She stood up, “Follow me, please.”

J’onn didn’t correct her and followed her down a hall to an elevator bay. She waved her I.D. card in front of a scanner and one of the elevators opened. Once inside, she scanned the I.D. again and the button panel lit up completely before a symbol lit up indicating they were going down. The foundations of the building went deeper than they should have, but eventually, the elevator stopped and they were let out into a large underground laboratory.

A man came up to them in a disheveled lab coat, wild dirty blond hair, circles under his eyes, coffee stains and burn spots on his cloths and arms, a pair of safety goggles pushed up on his head. “Ah, welcome Agent – uh?”

“Operative J,” J’onn provided from the top of the woman’s mind.

“Right, Operative J, sorry, yes, I remember you now.” The man said, “I know I told Director Beta that I’d have results by the end of the week, and while things didn’t go as planned, I assure you, by the end of today, I’ll have something big to show you.”

J’onn scrutinized the man, then probed, “What is this big thing? And why is it worth my time?”

“Yes, Dr. Copen, what have you got?” The woman asked incredulously.

Dr. Copen ignored her as he turned and waved for them to follow, “Earlier today I almost got a subject. The data was inconclusive on why the retrieval unit failed, the hyper connection antenna was damaged somehow before it was able to send any useful information, but I’ve sent out two retrieval units with the same tracking system.”

“Tracking system?”

Dr. Copen grinned and nodded, “Didn’t Director Beta tell you? We got a sample of a an enzyme that’s created when a Martian shapeshifts, we can use it to locate any Martian that has recently changed form, no matter how human they may seem.”

They stopped in front of a large monitor array and the doctor pressed a button and it flickered on. Two robots like the ones that had attacked J’onn and M’gann earlier that day, one with the other in its camera view, they few over the city and started to lower themselves towards … a small pizzeria J’onn recognized.

“Now, so long as whatever interfered with the previous hyper-link connection doesn - uhg…” Just as he said it, and the first robot broke through the front wall of the pizzeria, the camera feed turned filled with static, not receiving a clear image of anything within the building.

“Damn, what is messing with the signal?” The doctor typed furiously at the keyboard under the monitors, there were occasional flashes of clear video.

M’gann was there - and another person in black futuristic armor? There was a clear video, but only of the black armored person shooting the robot to pieces with some kind of arm mounted plasma blaster, before they charged the robot, the blaster somehow being replaced with a sword. After a minute, everything went black. The monitors weren’t off, but they stopped receiving information.

“AGAIN? What are they doing to my retrieval units?” Dr. Copen groaned as he desperately tried to pull data from the robots. He was saving the clearest images of M’gann and the armored person, not enough to identify them, but too close for J’onn’s comfort.

J’onn’s anxiety was increasing, he needed to get to M’gann to make sure she was okay. While the doctor was distracted, J’onn would find a way to destroy the lab. There were plenty of dangerous chemicals lying around; looking back the way they’d come, he saw some large containers with a label warning “oxygen-flammable liquid”. He reached out with his psychic power, only to be suddenly struck in the back of the head and filled with an electric shock. He felt his form revert to its most familiar shape, the form of The Martian Manhunter, the hero he’d created all those years ago.

“Mildred?” Dr. Copen shouted.

“He’s one of them,” The woman said with disgust dripping from the words and a taser pointed at his head.

J’onn’s vision blurred and he felt something latch around his neck. He couldn’t concentrate past the pounding in his head and he couldn’t get to his feet until he felt a hand grab his arm and pull him up. Then he was shoved into a tight confined space, between a wall of glass and a bed of hard metal. Just as he forced control over his movements again, he was suddenly cut off. He could feel his powers being shunted behind a wall, out of reach from him, as energy radiated from the black collar around his neck.

The woman stared in at him, a grimace on her face and the doctor behind her, clearly confused. “Wait, but- My retrieval units? They were just locked onto the Martian signal?”

“There must be two of them,” The woman said, her eyes narrowing and teeth gritting, “It’s multiplied like a cockroach, at this rate, they’ll be crawling all over the place.”

Panic was setting in, not just for the situation he was in, but M’gann was fighting off two Martian Hunting robots by herself, he didn’t know or trust the armored person who could have been working with these people for all he knew. He needed to get out, but without his powers? He was helpless and trapped, and M’gann needed his help! What-

Suddenly, there was an explosion, and the lab filled with thick grey smoke. The black armored person burst from the smoke behind Mildred and slammed her to the ground. Mildred jumped up with the taser discarded for a gun and fired at her assailant, who was apparently bullet proof. J’onn barely caught sight of something glowing green impacting Dr. Copen deeper in the smoke. Suddenly, M’gann was in front of the pod he’d been put in, worry written in her face. She looked around the pod for the way to open it, but she was too panicked.

The grey smoke started turning black and a fire could be seen spreading through the other side of the room. J’onn couldn’t hear what M’gann was saying, but after a moment, there was a boy next to her. He had white hair, green eyes, and a black and white jumpsuit. He phased his hands though the glass front of the pod, grabbed onto J’onn’s clothes, and pulled him through. Once out, J’onn saw M’gann and the person in black (on a flying surfboard?) carry his two captors up through a hole in the ceiling, and the boy flew J’onn out as well.

M'gann and the girl in black left the receptionist and the doctor outside the D.L.C.E. building. The four of them went to the roof of the building across the street from the D.L.C.E. and they watched as first responders put out the fire.

“Thank you,” J’onn said as the boy set him down. It was interesting, the way the boy flew was different from the way J’onn flew. The boy seemed to have gravity simply not affect him vs a Martian's telekinetic flight.

“No problem, Valiant?” The boy said, hovering back and allowing the girl in black to approach him.  She reached up and pressed the red pads on her fingers to the black collar around his neck, and after a moment, it clicked and came off.

“Thank you as well,” J’onn said.

“Uncle J’onn, are you okay?” M’gann asked rushing forward for a hug as the girl in black stepped back and examined the collar.

He returned her hug and looked her over, “Yes, and you?”

M’gann smiled broadly, “Yeah, but –“ She looked at the girl, “Are you sure you’re okay, Valiant?”

The girl rolled her shoulder, and when she spoke her voice was slightly distorted through her helmet, “I said it’s fine.”

“Her suit takes care of stuff like that,” The boy said, “It’s a pretty cool piece of technology.”

Valiant, as the boy called her, growled, then sighed. “Now that this is taken care of, we have our other work to do, Phantom.”

“That’s right, you two have to get back to the museum,” M’gann said and smiled at them.

“Is there anything we can assist you with? It would be rude for us to not thank you for your help,” J’onn said, both from honesty and curiosity. He wanted to learn more about these two teenage heroes. They had to be the two from earlier, Phantom had the same somewhat ethereal bend of psychic energy around him as the black haired boy they’d seen earlier.

“Oh, no, we’re literally just here on a school trip. We’re supposed to do our own work,” Phantom supplied. “But, it was super cool meeting you!”

Valiant took a step towards J’onn; he couldn’t see her face through her helmet, but he could feel an intensity radiating from her. She took a deep breath and said, “If you’d like to repay us, then I’d like to make a request.”

Phantom gave her a questioning look, “We don’t need a reward or anything.”

Valiant nodded in agreement, “But we do need training.”

“He’s already got a sidekick! And a pretty cool one, I might add,” Phantom winked and M’gann blushed. "He doesn't need to waste time on us."

“I would not mind an occasional additional tagalong. Though, there are other’s out there who would better suit being your mentors," he glanced over Valiant, "such as experts in human technology, that I can introduce you to.”

J’onn felt the sudden connection of a psychic link, Do you think they could join the Team?

He looked at M’gann and replied, I will speak with Batman about the matter. But there is no guarantee that he will agree to it.

She giggled happily, then pulled a cell phone out of her pocket, “Uncle J’onn just got me this, I’d love to have your numbers, maybe we can team up or have pizza together again sometime?”

Phantom blinked at the two of them, then widely smiled, “That’d be cool!”

There was a second where J’onn saw something in Phantom’s eyes. He ventured a guess, “Did you hear any of that?”

Phantom paused in typing his number into M’gann’s phone, taking a second to process what had been asked and responded with, “Were you talking?”

Phantom went back to typing as J’onn clarified, “You looked at us, each in turn, as we had a psychic conversation.”

“Oh!” Phantom said as he handed the phone to Valiant, “I could tell you were doing something. Like, I felt you using your powers, but I didn’t know what.”

“I see.” J’onn would have to investigate further. If Phantom could sense the use of psychic powers, and it seemed those with psychic powers could sense him, then learning to work together could be an immense advantage when devising countermeasures to either ability. As it stood now, though, J’onn was a little proud. It was hard to get his niece out of her shell; he’d learned from his recent call with his sister that M’gann’s life on Mars had been a hard one, but here she was, making friends remarkably quickly and easily. Even if Batman didn’t agree to them joining the team, even if there wasn’t the possible advantage of training with someone who could sense their psychic abilities, J’onn would keep an eye on his niece’s new friends.

"I'll call you next time I visit Chicago!" M'gann said as they prepared to fly off.

Valiant paused on her hoverboard just over the edge of the building, "I guess you're not too bad. We'll have to bring you down to Amity some time too."

"You'll have to come around a lot actually," Phantom said, "I need you to tell me all about space and Mars and how you got here, and-"

"Okay, space boy, let's get going," Valiant said, grabbing Phantom by the scruff of his jumpsuit.

Then Phantom shout to the heavens as he was being dragged off, "I love having an alien friend! Please text me all the time!"

Yes, J'onn was definitely keeping an eye on these kids.

[my-deer-friend]

Hii I have a bit of personal question, if that is alright. I am very interested in the American Revolution but I do not live in America. I would like to become a historian or researcher of that time period one day. As a student do you think it is difficult to be a historian of the American Revolution when you are not American? I get a lot of books and information online, but I do not think it is the same as being in a place? Do you think your school program a good stepping stone to get into an American graduate school? Is that something you want to do one day?

Sorry for all the inquiries, you are just the only person on here who is in a similar situation as myself! Best wishes to you!

Hi Anon! This is a really good question, and I'll do my best to answer it as both a history student and a university professional.

(First, I'll note that my interest personally is not primarily in the American revolution, but rather in the 18th century more broadly. That includes lots of angles that I can pursue in Europe, not least looking at relations in the Atlantic world, the "republic of letters" and the enlightenment, and thematically I'm interested in queer history, which can be studied everywhere. I also have no desire to live in the US. But, yes, let's assume AmRev is the focus.)

There are different considerations for undergrad vs postgrad.

Undergraduate

At undergraduate level, it doesn't matter too much where you study. At this point in your journey, broadly speaking, the focus is on developing your academic skills, learning established content about your topic, and exploring a range of scholarly interests (not just the topic itself, but how to research that topic – i.e. methodologies). As long as your university has a department for American history, or even better a major, you're fine.

While you're busy with your degree, you can supplement your learning about the period in a lot of ways, including:

Using your own library to access books, journal articles and databases (and getting materials through inter-library loans if need be)

Using the vast and ever-growing online resources on American history provided by institutions like the Library of Congress, American universities and libraries (e.g. NYPL)

Where something isn't already available online, contacting the archive that has it and seeing if you can get a copy (I wrote a post about that)

Talk to your history prof about your interest, and they will probably be able to suggest some avenues to pursue. One very useful tool is to look up the AmRev curriculum or syllabus from other univerisities and see what readings and topics they cover (just google: "american revolution" syllabus). Here's one that came up.

And then – and I'll put this point in bold because it's the most important thing I'll say here:

👉✨Attend conferences✨👈

Conferences are where you make invaluable connections with like-minded scholars, hear about new research, find out about opportunities (scholarships, programs, funding, etc.), discover what a career in academia actually looks like, get advice from people already doing the job you want to do, and so on. There are even conferences specifically for undergrad students, or there might be a track at a generalist conference that allows emerging researchers to present on a topic. Lots of these take place online (hence, cheaper), or you might be able to apply for funding from your university to attend (or idk you have a fabulously wealthy great-aunt).

Postgraduate

While undergrad is more about learning, postgrad is more about finding out. The higher up the ladder you go, the narrower your focus becomes, and you start to need more specialised guidance. To get the most out of your learning, you need to go where the experts are, and naturally, many of the most cutting-edge scholars on American history are, well, in America. You'll want to be surrounded by a community of like-minded scholars. And yeah, "being there" can be important not just for better access to primary materials, but also for insights that come from physical, social and cultural proximity.

That said, I don't think it's impossible (or inadvisable) to study the American revolution outside of America; it's just trickier. Doing that successfully comes down to 1) finding the right advisor and 2) choosing the right topic.

By this point, you should know who the leading scholars are in your particular niche of interest. Nobody really studies "the American revolution" writ large; rather, they (and you) will focus on the political or racial or sociocultural or regional or culinary or-- whatever aspect of it. It might just happen that the people in your field are located near you.

You can also approach the topic from a different angle – start from a local point of interest that you can to relate to the AmRev. (Maybe you're Italian, and you know about Italian History Blorbo who went to fight in the war, and there's a story to tell there. Maybe you're Dutch and you have things to say about the intricacies of the financial and political support the Netherlands gave to America. And so on.) This might, in fact, lead to novel insights and perspectives that haven't been explored yet.

Good luck to you!

If anyone wants to share their own experiences, please feel free!

[lostbetweenvampiresandmusic]

Changes chapter 13

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As Max emptied his fridge, collecting several bottles with A positive blood on the counter, he couldn't help but think how different everything was a month ago. A month ago, he had just been living his life, sometimes getting bothered and sometimes getting ignored by his boys - but all in all, it was a good life. People didn't suspect him. He could feed whenever he wanted, and he could stay here for at least another twenty years before people would become suspicious of his lack of ageing. Of course, he had always used to help other vampires, especially newborns who had a rough change. But in all honesty, after finding and saving the last of his boys, he never thought he'd have to do it again. Until that one phone call, a month ago now.

He had never expected to care so much about the young girl, never expected that he'd go so far for her to help her overcome her past and to figure out what exactly happened to her. And yet, here he was. Julie had quickly wormed her way into his coven, becoming close to his boys, trusting him. Even though she had only been here for a month, and he had been gone for a week of it to do research on her past, he could hardly imagine what it was like before. She was here, and if it were up to him, she would stay. Whether she'd become a part of the coven as his daughter or as a sister to the boys with a greater distance to him didn't really matter. All Max wanted was for her to stay and be happy.

He gathered the four bottles of blood in his arms before walking down his hallway towards the basement. Three nights ago, Julie had come home and written him a small note.

I want to go through with it, but the boys need to be there too.

Max had immediately put everything on hold to make sure he was ready to perform the ritual. He had checked the recipe twice a day, talking it through with Julie to make sure she knew what she was getting into. And she did, although it didn't mean she was any less scared.

As he entered the basement, he couldn't help but give her a sympathetic look. The atmosphere in the basement was tense. The stone clad walls were covered in fabric, blocking any stray ray of sunshine from entering. The floor was covered in pillows and mattresses, and some candles lightened the rest of the room up. Under any other circumstance, he knew Julie would have loved it. It would have been the perfect spot to hang out with friends and watch a movie, or have sleepovers. But now?

She sat on the ground, playing with a rubberband. She tried to ignore Max, who walked past her quickly, making sure everything was ready. The resiring. It would finally happen today, and she still didn't know what to think of it. She was scared of the pain it would inevitably bring. Scared that it would fail and that she'd be forced to be silent forever. Scared that it would succeed and that she suddenly remembered everything that happened to her. No, she took a deep breath, trying to clear her mind. She should not think of any of these things. The spell would work. Max would make sure she'd get through it. He'd help her, of that she was certain.

"Julie? Everything's ready." Max came to sit down across from her. "Are you doing okay?"

She shrugged, shaking her head slightly. Honestly, besides her nerves, she couldn't even tell what else she was feeling.

"I know. I won't start until the boys are here, Dwayne said he'd promised to be there and the others want to be there for you too."

Julie gave him a watery smile. It was really nice of the boys to do that for her.

"Do you want me to go through the steps with you again?"

Julie shook her head. She had heard them, read through them herself, and she knew that if she heard them again, she would feel more anxious than she did now. Max nodded, getting up. When he saw her confused look he motioned towards the door.

"The boys are outside."

Julie nodded, realising what the boys meant when they said that her senses weren't similar to theirs. She'd been curious about that but gathered that it was because of her sire. The man who changed her - if it was even a man, in her mind it was, but in all honesty, she had no clue - the man who took everything from her when she was a human, who took even more when she became immortal. The man who caused her to lose memories, lose senses in certain circumstances, and lose the ability to speak. She shook her head, trying to get rid of the thoughts of that monster. Tonight, she'd be free from him.

She looked up as she felt a hand on her shoulder, David crouching down in front of her. "Are you ready?"

She gave him an uncertain look before slowly nodding. He gave her a soft smile, looking her in the eyes.

"Remember, if you want to stop, you can. If it gets too much, if you change your mind, if you get scared - three taps. Alright?"

Julie nodded, thankful for the option, but sincerely hoping she wouldn't need it. It was scary, yes, but she wanted this. Dwayne had helped her realise that. She couldn't let her sire control her forever. She needed the control, or at least to have that control be in the hands of someone she trusted.

David stood up, and Julie knew it was time. With a shaky sigh, she looked at Max, who gave her one last questioning look. Was she certain that she wanted to go through with this? She nodded, closing her eyes while taking a deep breath. This was it.

She stood up, sitting down on a chaise lounge, carefully watching how Max injected a needle into her veins. He connected a tube to it, attaching it to a machine. It took a few seconds, but little by little, the machine began to pump her blood out of her body. This blood, infected by her previous sire, would have to be gone before they went on to the next step.

"You're still doing okay?" Paul asked as he sat next to her, noticing how she began to look more faint with the minute. She gave him a slow nod. Even though she was feeling weaker than a house of cards, this was doable. She wasn't in any pain, and despite the sensation being rather unpleasant, she knew the end result would most likely be worth it.

As more and more blood left her body, she felt herself become drowsy. Her movement slowed, and she didn't even notice how Max turned the first machine off.

"Now comes the hard part," he warned before hooking a new machine up to the needle. With a loud whirring noise warm, fresh blood was pumped into the veins again. O negative. Julie took a deep, whimpering breath as she felt the first drops enter her body. It was uncomfortable, as if she were being pushed together. Then more and more blood entered, and the pain got only worse. Her body began to heat up, sweat dripping down her forehead. She slipped down the couch, laying half on it and half on the floor. Her face was contorted in pain, but no noise came out. As much as she wanted to scream and cry out in pain, she couldn't. It was becoming worse, the pain being everywhere. Her whole body was on fire, and she couldn't move. She couldn't tell. She was certain that she'd be dead by the end of this and that she'd feel this pain forever. Her eyes began to roll back, she began to lose focus, she couldn't see, and -

"Max, you need to stop," Marko spoke up as he saw how sickly Julie looked. She was shaking, trembling all over. Max shook his head.

"This needs to happen, or else the -"

"Fuck the sire bond, man! Fucking look at her!" Paul jumped up, forcing Max to really look at Julie instead of the stats on the machine.

"She's almost the-"

"Turn it off," David told Dwayne, who was closest to the power outlet. Within seconds, the machine turned off, no new blood being pumped into Julie's body. "We need to rid her of this O negative, and then feed her as much as she can take."

Max was pushed aside as Marko switched machines, pumping the blood she was allergic to out of her body for the most part. Still, he couldn't take all - this process had already taken too much, and taking everything would definitely kill her.

While he was doing this, Dwayne tried to sit Julie up, slowly dripping some A negative blood into her mouth.

"C'mon, sweetheart," he mumbled as he massaged her throat, hoping it would help her swallow.

Max stood in the corner of the room, frozen, looking at the scene in front of him. The boys worked like a well-oiled machine to help their sister, so effortlessly and efficiently. And he, he had almost killed her, he realised in horror. His wish to free her from her sire had caused her to almost die.

He sank down to the ground, ripping the spell recipe in pieces. He was done with magic. He'd find another way to help Julie, but not like this. Never again. If the boys hadn't been here, he wasn't even sure she'd still be alive. The boys being here saved her, and he couldn't be more thankful.

He looked up as he heard a weak, desperate cough. Julie spat out some blood before closing her eyes again. Paul was quick to wake her up, softly tapping her cheek.

"Julie," she weakly opened her eyes, "drink, then you can sleep, alright?"

She did as was told, drinking half a bottle of A positive, before weakly pushing it away. She closed her eyes, falling into a deep, desperate sleep against Dwayne's chest.

"I think you should go." David stood in front of Max, a dangerous look in his eyes. "I told you she would no longer stay with you if you'd hurt her again."

Max nodded, looking at David with regret. "Stay here for the night, I won't come near her if she doesn't want me to."

David was about to protest, but he realised it was close to sunrise, and they'd never make it back in time.

"Fine. We'll be gone by dawn. Don't come near her without one of us present."

"I never deliberately hurt her, David."

"I don't care. This is the third time I've seen her hurt because of you, and it will be the last time."

"The only reason I won't punish you right now is because Julie can't use that." Max spat, giving David a dangerous and almost evil look. The boy may be right about wanting to protect Julie, but he wouldn't accept him going against his sire like that.

"What are you going to do? Put a sire command on me?" David glared at him. "Do that, and Julie will despise you."

David turned around, grabbing a blanket from the floor and draping it over Julie's sleeping body. Max sighed, shaking his head before going upstairs.

Maybe David was right, but still - now she had gone through all this pain for nothing. Max walked towards his bedroom, locking the door, before sinking down to the ground, realisation truly hitting him.

Today, he had almost killed the girl he had promised to protect.

Next chapter >

[call-me-mrs-winchester]

𝐋𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐀 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤 - 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟒

PAIRING : dean winchester x original female character

STORY SUMMARY : in series masterlist

CHAPTER WARNINGS : age-gap. pining. fluff. angst (kind of.) concerned sam. typical bossy, in charge dean.

A/N : finally getting some dean pov in this chapter! feedback is always appreiated. ~a big thank you goes out to everyone who asked to be tagged, your support means so much. check out the story masterlist if you missed previous chapters!

Maricela's POV

My eyes shifted towards Sam once the others went their separate ways to begin their tasks.

He nods in the direction of the adjacent area. "I'll show you your room."

Nodding, I move past Kevin to follow, but not without rubbing his shoulder. He gave me the tiniest smile before I walked down the stone steps into the Command Room. My legs carry me toward the war table so I can swipe my duffle bag and throw it over my shoulder. I jog into the corridor to my left to find where Sam had disappeared, only to see him walk further into the bunker. My feet quickly shuffle to catch up, and once I do, I set a pace to match his lengthy strides.

"It's really good to see you, Mari," says Sam. "But are you sure you're ready for the big leagues?"

A short huff escapes my lungs. "Sam, you act like I haven't worked with you guys before. I think I more than proved myself to you, Winchesters, that I can be of value to the team."

"Of course," he agrees but noticeably hesitates. "It's just that... You know we worry about you hunting by yourself. And now, you'll be hunting with us, which is great..."

"But...?" I stop abruptly, planting my feet firmly on the ground as I cross my arms.

Sam turns around, his face falling when he sees my blank yet expecting expression. He frowns to himself before glancing away from me. His hazel eyes scanned the hall, taking in every detail of our surroundings while taking a moment to gather his thoughts. Despite his attempts to avoid it, he struggled to convey his concerns. Finally, he exhales a deep breath before his eyes find mine.

"I'm just worried something will happen to you. The people closest to us always get hurt or end up dead." He admits. "And I don't want that to happen to you."

His concern brings me a smile. "Sammy, you're so sweet to worry about me. But as long as I'm with you boys, I'll be safe."

The youngest Winchester simpers, but it hardly reaches his eyes. I can tell my words don't bring him any sense of comfort. Yet, it's the truth; I wouldn't trust anyone else with my life. We begin to walk down the cold halls again, this time in silence. We stand in front of door number 16 before he pushes it open. Sam holds his hand out, gesturing for me to enter first. I walk in, glancing around the bare room. It wasn't so bad; it came with standard furniture like any other bedroom and more. It, by far, beats any motel room I've ever stayed in.

"Make yourself at home," I place my bag on the bed before turning to Sam, standing before the doorway. "My room is number 21, Dean's is 11, if you ever need anything."

"It's great, Sammy." I motion around the room, smiling happily. "Thank you guys, this means a lot."

He returns my smile, and this time, it feels genuine. "I'm glad you're here."

"Me too."

"Come on, I'll give you a quick tour of the rest of the bunker," He says, but judging by the size of this place, 'quick' was an understatement.

"Yeah, Irv. Fallen Angels," Dean says into his phone as I stroll into the library. "Well, trust me, they're just monsters with good P. R. So, if you run into one, torch his ass with holy oil."

I settle beside Sam, placing my computer on the table. "What can I help with?"

He assigns me to the 'demon-y' part of the research while he continues with the angel portion. I press the power button, bringing the laptop to life. The familiar hum of the machine fills the room as I eagerly await for the desktop to load. Once everything was up and running, I began to scour through various news articles and sources relating to anything abnormal in the hopes of finding promising leads. A silence fell between our group as we focused on our tasks. Besides the gentle tapping of keyboards and the occasional rustle of papers, the eldest Winchester's smooth voice danced in my ears.

His words reassured me why I had chosen this life: To help others. Knowing that I get to save people while ridding the world of monsters is what fuels any hunter. However, there were many times when I wondered if I had made the right career choice. I used to imagine how different it would've been if those two gorgeous strangers hadn't walked into my life, all because of that damn Lamia. Maybe Luke and I would have ended up together. Or I would've been in college, planning for my future. Better yet, both. No matter the limitless scenarios, the ending was always the same: Life without the Winchesters. And that alone scared me more than all the monsters I have ever faced.

The vibration of my phone drew my attention away from the endless and exhausting disappointment of no leads. Despite my pursuit to find any demon activity, it had become apparent there was a complete absence of their presence. Reaching into my back pocket, I grab the rectangular device to check the caller ID. A frown creases my face, and my brows wrinkle as I stare at the name. Hesitantly, I slide my thumb over the screen to answer the unexpected call.

"Hello?" I greet, getting up to walk away from the group.

"Hey, Mari. How ya been?" He asks hurriedly.

"Oh, you know—still kicking," I lightly joke before my tone turns serious. "What's up?"

"You still do weird, right?" He questions in a hushed voice. "'Cause I got something that seems up your alley."

Bingo!

Dean's POV

My thumb taps the red 'End Call' at the bottom of the phone screen. Gazing over my shoulder, Maricela approaches the telescope, phone pressed against her ear. Her back faced us as she spoke quietly, making it hard to eavesdrop. I watched intently, trying to decipher what kind of call it was with each movement made. She delicately entwines her fingers with her chocolate-brown curls, running her hand through her hair before letting it fall in a soft wave to the middle of her back. After a moment's pause, she turns slightly, allowing the light to catch the natural red undertones in her hair.

Without taking my eyes off her, I nudge Sam. "Who's she talking to?"

Casting a quick glance in her direction, he then refocuses on me and nonchalantly shrugs, "Not sure, I didn't ask."

Mari turns toward us, then thanks whoever was on the other line before hanging up. Her combat boots lightly thud against the wood floor as she walks back to the group. She tosses her phone on the table, allowing a sigh to escape her perfectly full, pink lips. Her russet brown eyes met mine, instantly holding me captive. The sense of time had lost all meaning; the only measurement was the quickening pace of my heart the longer I stared.

The ends of her mouth curled with delight as her cheeks flushed a scarlet hue. She tore her gaze away, breaking my trance, only to steal another glance. Embarrassed, I fixate my attention on the floor, trying to shake the strange flutter inside and get to business. Come on, Dean, I thought. What are you doing? I straighten my posture, standing tall at the foot of the table.

Nodding at her phone, I inquire, "Who was that?"

Her soft yet sharp eyes shifted from the table to me, to Sam, sharing, "That was my cousin, Miguel. He's a Captain in the Army and coincidentally knows I'm a hunter. A friend of his just informed him of an unusual and new case—so new that the media hasn't even covered it yet. And, from what he told me, this could be a case."

"Really?" Sam asks, sitting up in his chair. "What'd he say?"

"Three civilian bodies were found dead in a city bus located on a Naval Special Forces Base in San Diego. The craziest part is that three soldiers boarded the bus, only to exit moments later with their bags left behind but the driver alongside them."

Sammy and I exchange bewildered looks.

"We've hunted on less," says Sam.

I nod before looking up at Mari, giving her a pleased smile. "Good work, kid."

She beams but subtly tries to hide the excitement from my gaze. "We should get going. It's a long drive, and we gotta make it before they clean up the crime scene."

"Why don't you hang back? Sam and I will check it out, see if it's our kind of thing." I speak up, wary of her coming along.

The younger hunter scoffs, shaking her head.

"No way, Winchester. I'm coming with." Before I could protest, she finishes. "It's my lead. So either I'm going with, or we don't go at all."

My eyes divert to my brother, expecting a little help. He closes his laptop before scooting his chair away from the table, standing to meet my height.

"Her lead." He concurs.

And so it begins.

Sam walks past me, going to his room to change into his Fed suit. A smug grin sits upon Maricela's face, only adding to my irritation. I cannot resist rolling my eyes at her sudden surge of confidence. It only took a few hours, but as predicted, they both overruled me. Having the final say was easier with Sam, but with Mari's stubbornness involved, it proved to be a little bit harder.

She picks up her laptop, resting it against her hip before walking towards me. I avoid eye contact, refusing to look at the objector. Her taunting chuckles echo in my ears when she notices my pout. My breath hitches when her fingers wrap around the placket of my overshirt, pulling it towards her. As if she were Wonder Woman using her lasso to hypnotize me, I helplessly surrendered my attention to her.

"We agreed I was here to help, so let me do my job."

I briefly gaze into her eyes before shutting my own. With a cautious but definite nod, I convey my agreement and acknowledge the validity of her point. "Yeah, you're right."

"Oh—I'm sorry," She lets the fabric go before cupping her hand around her ear and leaning forward dramatically. "I don't think I heard you right. Kev, did you hear him?"

She turned to Kevin, who was watching us with a playful smirk. "I don't know... Say it again, Dean."

"Shut up." I roll my eyes in exasperation before moving past her to change into my uncomfortable costume.

She laughs, following after me. "I think you said I was right."

"Don't get used to it," I grumble, expecting to be annoyed.

Instead, a slow and unexplainable smile spreads across my face.

Maricela's POV

"We stopped for that?" Dean asks, annoyance laced in his words. He gapes at the uniforms as I climb into the back seat.

"Of course! What'd ja' think? We would stroll onto a military base and pretend we were the FBI?"

"Yes, that's exactly what we're going to do." He answers in a monotone voice.

On the way to California, I had Dean stop at a friend's house so I could pick up Navy Fatigues for us to wear. My entire plan revolved around the uniforms. I knew from experience that there would be some pushback from the boys—i.e. Dean—but it was a great plan.

"The MPs aren't just gonna let a couple of Feds sniff around their crime scene. It happened on a military base, automatically making it theirs, not federal." I explained. "Now, these fatigues will be our tickets onto the scene, no questions asked. And if they do, I have a safety net."

"I don't think so," Dean argues. "We know how to do our jobs. You're not just going to come in and change what we've been doing for years."

"That's not what I'm trying to do. I'm just thinking sensibly here. We're talking about military police—"

"Maybe she's right, Dean. It's a little different than our usual gigs." Sam speaks up, thankfully agreeing with me.

"No, no!" The older Winchester's voice raises. "We're doing this my way. End of story."

I sit back in my seat, huffing with frustration. Sometimes, I forget how stubborn this man-child can be, and he never has a problem reminding me. None of us talked for the rest of the ride there. Since Dean wasn't the only one who was obstinate, I quietly got ready to change into the uniform. I traded out my glasses for contacts before slicking my hair into a low bun. After untying my bootlaces and shimmying off my jacket, I wait for the perfect time to slide on the fatigues.

When we arrived on base, local and military police flooded the area. Upon doing additional research on the way here—freak thunderstorms and every cow dead within three miles—it was concluded this was a demon-related case. And, as per usual, I was side-benched!

"All right, stay here," Dean mutters before he and Sam exit the car.

Once the doors were closed, I wiggled on the uniform, careful not to be seen by any passersby. My fingers moved at an unparalleled speed as I tied my laces, surprising even myself. Stealthily, I slipped out of the Impala with my cap firmly on my head. As I anticipated, it wasn't going well for them.

"Agents," I call over to the men. "I'm guessing D.C. sent you?"

They turned around, recognizing my voice. Their eyes scan me up and down, taking in my uniform. Sam stares with curiosity and amusement while Dean's disapproving glare says everything he couldn't out loud.

"Yes, ma'am," Sam plays along with a sly smile.

I halt next to Dean, his gaze fixed on me while the soldier across from us firmly asks, "And you are?"

My eyes scan over her name tape: Bates. Confidently, I introduced my cover, "I'm Corporal Maricela Ramirez."

Her eyes narrowly take in my youthful appearance—clearly doubting, she remarks, "You look a little too young to be a Corporal."

"And you look a little too Army to work on a Navy case." Without regard, I sass back. "Sorry, what's your rank?"

Her arms cross over her chest, staring me down. "I'm a Sergeant."

"Well, Sergeant Bates, my Captain ordered me to meet these agents and make sure they got to see the crime scene. So, if you could just let us pass—"

"That so?" She interrupted, her attitude smug. "Then maybe he and I ought to have a chat."

I could feel the boy's eyes on me, waiting for my next move. Ignoring them, I say with nonchalance, "Not a problem. Then, after, I could have a conversation with your Commanding Officer."

"Oh, yeah? About what, exactly?" She challenges.

"How sloppy you look," I say with fake disgust. "Maybe I'll start by telling him how you wear your hair: In a looong braid. I'm sure he'll remind you that when in uniform, if a woman's hair falls below the collar, it must be neatly and inconspicuously pinned, fastened, or secured to the head. Or, I can begin by asking why his officer thinks she can address herself as a higher rank than the first-class private badges she wears. But, hey, if you are telling the truth—no harm, no foul. Right, Sergeant?"

She uncrosses her arms, her demeanor growing softer. My hand reaches into the pocket of my fatigues, pulling out my phone. I extend my arm to hand her the cell phone, asking, "You still want to call him?"

Bates stares at the device, internally weighing her options. I glance up at the Winchesters, each holding their nervous breaths. The tension in the air was palpable as we waited for her response. The officer and I locked eyes, trying to read the other's thoughts. After what felt like an eternity, Bates shakes her head. The corners of her mouth barely lifted into a bitter smile as she exhaled in defeat before walking away. I drop my arm to my side, grateful for the win.

"That went well," Sam was the first to speak as we walked around the transit.

"Thanks to yours truly," I tease, stepping onto the high-floor bus sandwiched between the Winchesters.

"Well, sweetheart," Dean mutters into my ear. "Guess you're more than just a pretty face, after all."

As I swallowed his words, I swallowed back the knot in my throat. My mind raced, trying to make sense of the ambiguous remark. I should have been offended that he reduced my role within the team to mere objectification, and yet, when he pressed his back against mine as he purred the idiom, I was left feeling stupefied. Was what he said meant in a demeaning or complimentary way? Instead of dwelling on it too long, I suppressed the ambivalent thoughts to concentrate on the case.

The forensic photographer was toward the back of the bus, snapping various shots of a victim who was slumped over a few seats. My feet carried me further into the bus and away from Dean before stopping to examine the blonde woman's corpse. I gently lift her blouse and instantly see two scars: one on her lower abdomen from a blade and the other near her ribs from a bullet. A second gunshot scar was accounted for over her left breast, aimed toward her heart. I pulled her shirt back down before standing up straight.

"Her wounds are old—like completely scarred over—old. " I murmur, trying to puzzle the pieces together.

"So is this guy's," Sam adds.

My eyes wander over to see his victim's shirt pushed aside, exposing a similar scarred bullet wound over his chest.

"Hey," Dean walks over. "Anything?"

"Yeah, this guy was shot in the heart." Sam answers.

The older Winchester inquires, staring down at the victim. "That what killed him?"

"Maybe—15, 20 years ago." Sam points at all the victims. "Every one of these bodies has a fatal wound or two or three, but they're all old."

"So, we're looking at meatsuits?" Dean asks rhetorically. "The bodies took a licking, and the demon inside kept them ticking."

"Probably. I think they were possessed, and now those soldiers are." I say, looking at the lifeless bodies discarded around the public transit.

"Hey," Dean's gruff voice utters in a low tone, alerting us. He nods behind Sam toward the front of the bus just before Sergeant Bates steps on.

"Excuse me, agents," Bates says as we turn to give her our attention. She approached with a tablet in her hand before proceeding to share, "We pulled this off a security camera. You might want to take a look."

She gives the device to Sam, crossing her hands in front of her, and waits for us to watch. Parking Lot 4 surveillance begins to play; the soldiers walk off and away from the bus before the driver follows as if nothing had happened. Sam pauses the footage and zooms in on the driver, only to show the woman staring at the camera, smiling sinisterly. I glance at the younger Winchester as his eyes widen, and his mouth slightly falls in surprise. My vision blurs Sam out as it focuses on his brother. Judging by his same reaction—with a hint of anger—they knew who she was.

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