#this is so good and it feels so real and you always manage to portray their characters so well

[skteezcursed]

❝0025❞ — j.wy.

PAIRING. jung wooyoung x fem!reader.

GENDER AND WARNINGS. smut. friends to lovers. kinda idiots in love. switch woo. switch reader. teasing. strip poker. mentions of alcohol. pet names (pretty boy, bunny, love, good girl, etc). praising. p in v. unprotected sex (please, do NOT!). oral (mostly fem receiving). creampie. kinda breast play. mostly filth, i'm sorry. lmk if i forgot anything!.

SYNOPSIS. you and wooyoung have always had a thing for each other, but never acted on it, until one day he gets tired of waiting once he notices you want him just as bad as he wants you.

RATING. R (+18) - MDNI.

WORD COUNT. 3,3k.

NOTES. english is not my first language. part of the ateezchella especial. bye ♡.

IMPORTANT. this is a work of fiction, it has zero intent on portraying how any of the people quoted here are in real life.

CREDS. dividers by cafekitsune ♡

The idea that something could be so infuriating and exhilarating at the same time was confusing to say the least, but that was how you felt whenever Jung Wooyoung would look at you, the eyes that held a teasing and menacing gaze at the same time they burned to your skin as if you were the most beautiful thing he has ever seen. In all truth, you were, and he was expecting to make that known to you that night as he had managed to convince you to play a game of strip poker, the drinks you had earlier not helping one bit at keeping your judgment clear. 

It’s not that you were bad at card games, no, you were amazing at them, except when you had something – or several – to drink, which was now the case. Although Wooyoung wasn’t too far behind you in being intoxicated by the alcohol, he seemed to have kept his cool, almost sober as the cards were dropped and clothes started to fill in the floor you two were in, thanking heavens that you were alone with him at the comfort of your house, at the same time trying to ignore how the pool that was forming in between your legs kept getting more annoying as the time passed and your clothes were on the floor while he still had his pants and one sock on.

  “Oh, look at that…,” the grin that took over his lips made you want nothing more than to rip it out as you groaned loudly looking at the cards he was showing, winning again. “C’mon pretty, take some piece off.”

“I fucking hate you,” his laugh reverberated through the room as he watched you take one of your socks, trying your best to push away the cold that involved you as you were only in your lingerie. Sensing the disappointing look Wooyoung sent your way, you hid your smile trying to calm your heart. “Be ready to take off some pieces next time, you are gonna lose!”

The smirk was quickly back into his lips as he picked the cards shuffling them around his hands, as you forced your eyes to not stare at them, not to imagine how good they always looked on your thigh or how flustered you always were whenever Wooyoung was bold enough to touch you a bit longer and in a daring way. The truth was, you’ve always had a thing for Wooyoung, if you were honest, how could you not? He was the perfect mix of a gentleman and a menace, but never going as far as making you uncomfortable, whenever a slight hint that you were annoyed by his antics, he would stop and apologize to you. The fact he was a touchy person didn’t help keep your feelings at bay as you grew closer. 

As the cards were thrown, you tried your best to keep your poker face and legs crossed – the latter so he wouldn’t be able to see the wet patch on your underwear. Wooyoung was already cocky enough about all the attention he got, although he got shy, you knew he enjoyed teasing the living shit out of you whenever someone would compliment him or indicate they wanted him, but curiously enough, he never gave them another second of his attention, just politely declined and kept on with whatever it was that your group was doing, also leaning closer to you, even if it was to tease how many gorgeous women and men wanted him. 

Although you wanted to deny, you loved how he would decline all the offers that came his way. You weren’t much of a jealous type, but you were definitely a possessive one, as much as you wanted to tell your brain you shouldn’t be like that towards Wooyoung. Whenever he would tease about that, you’d play it out by saying that’s how you were with all your friends, receiving a laugh from Wooyoung as you felt his hands linger on your body, sometimes he would talk back against your ear, others he would pull you closer with some excuse, and on rare occasions he would just stay like that, fingers burning on your skin as the tip of his fingers would lightly caress your exposed skin. 

“YES! Told you I’d win!” You cheer with excitement as you draw your cards laughing loudly at his pout as his eyes bore into your figure and you notice a small smirk appear on his lips before he gets up, eyeing you with that menacing glare. “No, I don’t care what you say, I’ll win the next ones too and -”

As his fingers went to the buttons of his pants, your voice stopped at once, eyes ignoring the apparent tent that was there. Once his fingers found the zipper, your eyes averted to the ground, specifically to his feet that still had one sock, which brought an inquisitive look to your face, turning into shock as his pants fell at his feet before he took them out completely kicking them somewhere along with his shirt, the sock joining it not long after, bringing your eyes to finally look up, straight into his face, as the tongue was in between his lips along with the growing grin that made you clench your thighs together. 

The movement did not go unnoticed as you saw Wooyoung’s eyebrows rise and fall before he took a few steps closer to you, noticing finally how you had your legs up to your chest cursing at yourself as you realized he probably saw the wet patch in your underwear. As he lowered himself in front of you, the maximum you would allow your eyes to wander off was up to his chest, the tattoo on his ribs finally visible for you to see, for you to touch, to –

“My eyes are up here bunny,” luckily, you only clenched your own cunt and not your legs as the pet name reached your ears, as your eyes found his predatory ones, the smirk with a slight gap between his lips, allowing you to see his tongue moving inside his mouth… God, you needed it in – “still need to go a bit further up,” his finger found your chin bringing your eyes to finally meet his and stay there. “That’s it, I like when you look at me, especially when it’s like that.”

“Fuck off,” you push his hand away and turn your legs around in front of you, still covering the growing wetness between your legs, making Wooyoung chuckle before he returns to his position, “why didn’t you take your socks off, you are supposed to only take one piece of clothing.”

“Are you complaining, love?”

You rolled your eyes as you pointed to the cards in between you two, ignoring his grin as his fingers nimbly organized the cards, ignoring how his eyes were fixed on you.

“You're scared you will lose?” 

The scoff that came from Wooyoung made you finally eye him as he finished organizing the cards. “I was planning on suggesting something for the grand finale.”

“You definitely scared to lose though, you were the idiot who took two pieces of clothing, while -”

“You would do the same if you had noticed how hard my cock is as it only got harder as I saw how wet your cunt is,” that shut you up at the same instant, the deck of cards being left on the coffee table as his eyes never left you, the smirk growing as his tongue wet his lips, sitting cross legged in front of you as his hands found his thigh, chuckling as he noticed you finally noticing his hard cock against his underwear. “Are you still gonna pretend you don’t find me attractive and that you don’t want to fuck me as badly as I want to fuck you?”

  “Wooyoung, look -”

“What do I have to do for you to understand I don’t see you as a friend and that I want you to be mine?” As your eyes averted from his, you could hear the movement and see it from the peripheral view, only to get his hands on your chin, making you eye him as he towered above you, trying to ignore how his hard clothed cock was inches away from you. “I never wanted to be just your friend and I sure as fuck ain’t blind not to notice how you react to me, so are you gonna be a good girl and let me fuck you senseless before becoming officially mine, or you still gonna be fucking brat?”

Instead of responding you palmed his clothed cock watching as his mouth opened with a gasp as you squeezed gently the length, his hands moving from your chin to caress your cheek as you smirked at each other.

“Tell me again how badly you want me, Wooyoungie.”

As you said that, both your hands moved to the waistband of his underwear, pulling slowly as you sustained eye contact with him, until you noticed that the tip of his red angry leaking cock was finally seen. Making you eye him before moving your face closer to his hip bone, leaving a tender kiss there as you slowly moved towards his cockhead, watching as it twitched slightly, his chest going up and down rapidly, making you giggle before your lips touched the tip making him groan loudly. 

  “Fuck you are gonna torture me?”

“I told you what I want, if you give it me, I’ll give it to you,” another kiss on his cockhead makes him throw his head back groaning before his hand go to the back of your head, your hair getting tangled within his fingers, “it’s a fair trade don’t you think, pretty boy?”

“Fuck I knew you were gonna be my end the day I laid eyes on you, bunny,” at that, you finally took the rest of his underwear, making his cock slap you in the face, making you giggle before holding it with one of your hands, putting just the tip inside, feeling his precum on your tongue before squeezing lightly the base of his cock. “Fuck, you are such a fucking tease, the way you’d sway your hips, how you always wear something that shows skin just to have my hands on you trying to take those fuckers who just want to fuck you away -”

“But you are one of the fuckers who want to fuck me, aren’t you Wooyoungie?”

“The difference between me and them my dear bunny, is that I can fuck you senseless and you’d still come begging for more, because you are just as desperate for my cock as I am for your cunt.”

At that he forced your head down his cock making you gag as you took him all in, tapping his thigh after a while, feeling him pull your head back and up, as his lips finally met yours. It was sloppy, desperate, lustful, it was all you both wanted and more and you felt him pulling you closer, his other hand found your waist going up your back to unclasp your bra, but never leaving your lips, not even when he felt your hardened nipples against his chest, pulling you closer to his, letting his cock press against your stomach.

You tried to put your hand in between you two, but he wouldn’t let you, keeping you firm against him as his tongue explored your mouth, God the amount of time you imagine those lips against yours, leaving wet traces until it finally found itself between your legs with your hands on his hair as he ate you out. 

“Be a good girl and sit on the couch, legs spread open,” he was as out of breath as you were, yet you complied taking off your bra first, but he stopped you as your hands went to your panties to pull them off. “Did I say something about taking these off?”

“Then how are you gonna eat me out properly?”

“Oh, my sweet bunny,” he hovered over you on the couch, the smirk forever present as you wrapped your arms around his neck pulling him closer to you, “I’m gonna make you scream my name in no time once I get a taste of you, and then I’ll fuck into oblivion until you beg me to stop.”

“Is that a promise?”

The doe eyes you sent him not matching the secret wish that question held, making his smirk grow as he pulled you in for another kiss, one of his hands going all the way from your waits to your knee as his other, found your breasts, pinching the hardened nipple making you moan against the kiss before he slapped it before massaging it all over again, making you whimper against his lips.

“It’s a promise since the moment I first saw you,” his lips lingering closely to your own as you felt his hand squeeze your thigh as his other moved up to your neck cupping your face pulling you in for another tender and innocent kiss before he started moving downwards, leaving a trail of open mouth kisses on your jaw and neck before reaching the valley of your breasts. “It’s a promise from the moment I saw your tits almost slipping out of one of those dresses you wore for the first night out we had as a group, where I almost had to fight a few guys who wanted what was mine.”

“I thought I wasn’t yours yet.”

“You were always mine, you just didn’t want to accept it,” his mouth fully involved your breast as his hand massaged the other, feeling the little random bites that would sure make their appearance in the morning, but you couldn’t care less as your fingers found his hair moaning every time he sucked and bit your breast, “so pretty like that and I barely touched you, I wonder how pretty you look all fucked out.”

“Why don’t you start by putting your mouth to use somewhere else?”

“Your wish is my comment, love,” he kisses you one last time before the wet trail of kisses happens all over again, slowly but surely accompanied by small bites here and there as Wooyoung makes sure to hold you down and spread your legs open as he gets closer to your clothed core. “Fuck, you are so wet, I wonder how much you can last.”

Combination of his words, eye contact, fingers gently taking the edges of your panties and the small kiss he leaves on top of your clothed aching clit, makes your hips jolt up, bringing a chuckle to Wooyoung’s mouth as he finally takes your panties of, a this line connecting your panties to your soaking core makes him curse before completely throwing your panties somewhere along with the other clothes. “Fuck, I can’t wait to taste you and make you cum on my mouth.”

Before you could say anything, his hot breath collided with your sensitive clit, a tender and contained kiss being left there as you could sense the chuckle Wooyoung left at your whimpers, reverberated through your body before your fingers found his head pulling him into your soaked cunt. His hands firmly on the back of your thigh spreading them open, your knees up to your chest as his mouth fully involved your clit, the kitty licks making you moan loudly and arch your back, feeling the small laugh he let out reverberate through your body once more.

“Woo, fuck-,” you cried as he lowered his head, his tongue at your entrance as his nose would meet your clit sending shocks of electricity and warmth through your body, “fuck, just like that Woo, fu-fuck, your ton-tongue, I can’t I-”

“Don’t you dare hold back, I wanna hear you, bunny.”

As two fingers entered you and his mouth closed on your clit sucking it, a scream left you. His fingers were quick, curling from time to time inside you making you squirm under him, as his arm could barely hold you still, but he honestly didn’t care, the sight of you shaking under him, your taste on his mouth, the feeling of your cunt clenching his fingers was sending him into overdrive and he wasn’t even inside you yet. 

The first wave hit you like a truck, the guttural sound that left your mouth followed by a scream as your fingers pulled Wooyoung’s hair was enough for him to finally let go of your wet folds. Once you felt his face away from you, your eyes met with his face glistening with your juice as he pushed his two fingers into his mouth, ravishing on your taste before pulling you in for another kiss. Your hands quickly ran down his chest to find his hard cock, before he stopped you.

“But Woo-”

“We’ll have plenty of that, unfortunately, if I don’t get inside of you right now, I’m afraid I’ll combust,” as you pulled him in for another kiss, your heels found his ass and thigh, pulling him into you, your hand finding his hard leaking cock and putting it at your entrance, making him whine against your lips as you squeezed him with your hand as to pull him closer to where both of you needed. “Fuck, I’m gonna break you, bunny.”

“You can break me as many times as you want if you are willing to put me back together.”

“God you are so perfect,” as his lips found yours with a tender and borderline innocent kiss, his cock pushed through your gummy walls making you gasp and moan against his lips before he hid his face on the crook of your neck, biting the base as he slowly entered your tight hole. “Tell me when I can move.”

A small shake of your head was all he needed before he started progressively thrust into you, his hips finding yours at a rapid pace as both your moans and grunts filled the house along with the sounds of your bodies. Wooyoung was a bit over average size, but he was girthy, so you were still getting used to his size as he fucked you, the head of his cock hitting your cervix every so often. 

His hands pulled your legs towards your chest making him hit a whole new spot inside you, making you scream at the feeling before his thumb start rubbing circles on your clit, your legs already shaking, mouth open, uncontrollable moans leaving both of you as his thrusts became sloppier, his kisses were messy and you clenched so much around him that ripped profanity after profanity from his lips. 

“Woo, I’m coming, fuck, please don’t stop, don’t fucking stop, it feels so good!”

“Cum with me, love, cum all over my cock,” as if magic, his words hitting your core sending you to combust under him, shaking and screaming as you felt your orgasm reach you, feeling his warm seeds inside you as his thrusts faltered before coming to a stop. Your legs were numb, but your arms quickly wrapped around him, your nails scratching his scalp softly as his body weight held you against the couch. “You are just as perfect as I imagined you to be.”

Your giggle came with the small kisses and love bites he left on your neck before pulling out of you and placing some distance between you two as he watched his seeds leak from your fluttering hole, a smirk on his lips before his lips met with your clit making you cry a moan.

“Wooyoung, please…!”

“Sorry love,” his face was quick to go up to yours, a kiss on your lips as you both smiled at the current situation. “So, can I ask you to be officially mine, now?”

“I was yours from the moment we met, Wooyoungie.”

“That’s my good little bunny.”

general masterlist here ♡

network: @cultofdionysusnet ♡ @atzhouse ♡

©skteezcursed (2024) — all rights reserved. reposting/modification of any kind is not tolerated.

DO NOT REPOST, TRANSLATE, PLAGIARISE OR REPURPOSE.

[wandabear]

CHEERFUL OBLIVION - WANDA MAXIMOFF X F!READER ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤ

Summary: Your duty is to watch her 'till Chton comes for her, even if you hate it, but do you really hate it? Especially when you start to get to know Wanda. The bond begins to torment you. But, oh Lord, you've never been so in love. ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

chapter one chapter two chapter three chapter four chapter fivechapter six

masterlist

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ tw: angst, fluff, angst with a happy ending. ㅤ

Jules is portrayed by Adelaide Kane. Here.

Florence + The Machine - Mermaids

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤchapter one

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ

ㅤㅤ ㅤ Six thousand years ago, after the beginning, there was a malevolent and ancient demon that plagued the face of the earth for a long time.

Chthon, one of the most powerful deities among the demons as he was one of the firsts to exist, managed to maintain control until he was banished. Unwilling to give up power, created a castle on top of Wundagore Mountain, carving his dark magic into the walls with evil spells prophesying the existence of a sorceress. The most powerful being, the Scarlet Witch, who would end up freeing him from his eternal exile.

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤ

Chton was gone, but his followers remained over time, as did his sacred book: ‘The Darkhold’.

Demons roamed the earth, but not as everyone thought.

ㅤㅤ ㅤ

1999 NOVI GRAD

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ

The sound of gunshots echoed,  stinging and destructive; soldiers on one side and rebels on the other shooting and falling to the ground. The fire in the streets, terror had an exquisite scent for beings like her.

Civilians hid to avoid being caught in the firefights, trying to live as normal a life as possible in what they believed in was hell.

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ

Suddenly, the gunshots stopped, exposing the sound of those combat boots against the dusty ground.  That woman came out of that dark alley, there was no fear in those deep eyes. Her hair and clothes were immaculate, there were no traces of gunpowder on that leather jacket, nor dust on her perfect hair.

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ

Sighing, Y/N walked towards that street but in matter of seconds she appeared on the terrace of a building. Seemed that they would soon fall apart, the dim lights just showed the power would go out soon.

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ

Oh, she hated those places and at the same time she loved them. Chaos always had an exquisite flavor.

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ

But Y/N just smiled, her eyes changing color to a yellowish tone. Her pupils were vertical, like those of a cat or a snake.Those were her true eyes. She was a demon, of course, and not a very young one.

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ

“What a turmoil, huh?”

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ “The US Air Force will launch the bombing soon…” someone said behind her, watching as the planes hovered over the city.   A sensual and deep female voice. ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ

A red-haired woman stood next to her, watching that beautiful city be devoured by fire and violence. It was scary, but for them, it was perfect. Chaos was something they needed, they fed on it. It was no coincidence that she and a demon like Abaddon were there.

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ Abaddon was a demon of a much higher rank, more dangerous, and much more loyal to Chton, for a reason she was his second.

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ “Why have you summoned me here? Lots of work?” Y/N tilted her head, watching the redhead. She looked like a sharp-tongued woman. “I mean, this place looks really bad and it’s kinda my specialty, but I'm a little busy with a war between-.”

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ “Leviathan.” Abaddon said her name, making Y/N stop. That was her real name, not Y/N. Although Y/N was the one she chose to feel part of the… world.Names had power and Y/N knew that if Abaddon said it, she had power over her.

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ “She’s here.” The voice and the way Abaddon said it made her blood run cold. Y/N frowned at her, that could only mean one thing and it was impossible. Millennia waiting for that moment, so much so that now it seems so distant and impossible.

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ “Who?” She played that game, naivety, and she was so good at it. A nearby explosion caused the ground to shake, but neither of them flinched. ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ “Who Chton has been waiting so long for.” Abaddon smiled proudly, finally happy to say those words.

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ “The Scarlet Witch.” Y/N gasped, couldn't believe that was true. “But…” ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ

Although that was good news for any demon from the depths of hell, Y/N didn't seem to think the same.

That meant the end of a world she became accustomed to, the end of comforts, the end of hedonism. Goodbye New York Pizza, goodbye to the sunsets in the Maldives, goodbye to good movies and good music.

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ

Despite that, Y/N tried to fake her best mischievous smile. “Are you sure?”

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ

“Yes… Thanks to you, we found the place where the Darkhold was buried, and now... You need to take care of it.”  Abaddon pointed towards one of the buildings in front of them, through the window you could see an adorable woman lying on an old sofa, with her two little ones. “That’s her.”

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ

“The woman?” Y/N asked curiously, tilting her head. Her hair was brown, had a charming smile and big eyes although you couldn't distinguish their color. A happy look despite the tragedy surrounding her family.

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ “No.” Abaddon rolled her eyes and pointed at the little girl, cuddling next to her mom. “The girl.”

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ But Y/N took a moment before speaking, her brow furrowed in confusion, she took a better look at the little girl.

Without a doubt, she had an undeniable resemblance to her mother.

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ

“But she’s a kid.” Y/N mumbled, somewhat confused. “They’re children.” ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ

“Yes, and?...” Abaddon raised an eyebrow, already more annoyed than she expected.

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ After a few seconds, Y/N just wrinkled her nose and shook her head.  “Yeah, no, I don’t mess with the tiny ones.” ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ

Surprised by her rejection, the higher demon turned to see Y/N, who was still looking at the little girl curiously. How come something so powerful was so small and insignificant?

Abbadon could tell a hint of pity, perhaps sympathy, something that shouldn't have been there but Y/N had always been a pain in the ass. Y/N had spent more time with humans than she had in hell.

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ

“Your job is to do what Chton ordered you to do.” The redhead growled, showing those terrifying red eyes. Abaddon was superior to Y/N, just because Y/N had screwed up a few times.

The truth is, Y/N didn't want to be a 'demon', like it was a big deal.

She always repeated over and over again that she was only there because of a mistake, Y/N -or Leviathan-  didn't mean to fall, was a high-ranking angel, she just hung around the wrong people... wrong time! ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ Therefore, she has always been a ‘bad’ demon. Cruel sometimes but morally decent. And the children, well, it was something she was never going to be able to understand. She would never attack children. ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ “But they’re kids-”   This time, she seemed more confident in her words. ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ Fed up with her rambling and babbling, Abaddon quickly cut her off. “We don't need you to kill her, just... make sure her destiny continues as it should be. Watch her, do not intervene.”

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ

“And I’m not a fucking guardian angel or something, I fell for something- ”  Y/N growled.

ㅤㅤ “Do as you're told.” Through her teeth, Abaddon grabbed the collar of Y/N’s shirt, showing  why she was superior now. She was much more aggressive and volatile.  “We're not playing… he’s not playing.” ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

After a few tense moments, Abaddon released her and took a few steps back. Annoyed, Y/N simply sighed and shook her head.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“Take it as a promotion for such good work on your… what do humans call it? Red Room.” Abaddon hissed with an evil smile before completely disappearing from that place.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Sighing, Y/N stared at that place, knowing that it wouldn't last long if Chton needed that girl to exploit her potential. Three hours later, she witnesses a missile destroying Wanda Maximoff's home, beginning the chaos and pain in the girl’s life.

2014 HYDRA Research Base

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“Hail Hydra!” One of the soldiers yelled, stepping aside, letting the woman in. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

The cold, musty dark walls of the place seemed depressing to Y/N, her combat boots echoed down that hallway until she reached that horrible man's office.

She had known this man for fifteen years and there wasn't even a moment where she didn't want to rip his head off. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“Hail Hydra.” Baron Von Strucker said quickly, but Y/N didn't return that greeting.

Y/N wasn't interested in having any kind of contact with Hydra, especially with the ‘leftovers’, but right now it was a necessary evil. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“We found two volunteers for the tests, as you said… I must say that the results have been extraordinary.” Strucker smiled brightly, more than the demon expected.

Y/N frowned, walking through the office until she reached the window, a beautiful view of the lake and the forests of Sokovia. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“I know.” The woman murmured somewhat thoughtfully. “How is she?”  ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ She didn’t expect Wanda and Pietro to seek refuge in Hydra, but the girl's resentment grew more and more. Something Chton and Abaddon believed was essential, Y/N had never taken the time to know or care about Wanda either. Despite knowing the girl for fifteen years, she had always been distant, fearing 'closeness' or as Abaddon would say: 'attachment'. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“How do you know it's a 'she'?”  Von Strucker asked, raising an eyebrow, quite confused. No one but him and some soldiers knew that they were twin brothers, a boy and a girl. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

But Y/N's glare made him reconsider his words. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“I know everything, don't forget who has helped you all these years. I am your superior, I am your god.” she said through clenched teeth. Suddenly, those human eyes changed to yellowish serpent eyes. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

But before Y/N could say anything, a screeching sound and the red lights indicated the alarms were activated, they were being attacked.

The Avengers crossed the walls that surrounded the castle, ready to take back Loki's scepter.  ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Growling in annoyance, Y/N walked towards the door. ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“Attack the city, split them up.” Y/N said to Strucker  before disappearing from that place. She needed to look for Wanda, needed to get her out of that place before the avengers found her but an empty room answered everything the demon needed to know.

Screaming in frustration, the demon disappeared from the scene. How could she have lost her?

“How did you lose her?!” Abaddon shouted, violently approaching to Y/N.  Her face was as red as her hair, and her eyes threatened to pop out of their sockets soon. There were very few times that Y/N had seen Abaddon like that. ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Both were in an office in one of the tallest buildings in New York, close to the Avengers Tower.

It was no surprise that a demon like Abaddon had a firm like ‘Hogarth, Chao & Benowitz’ in her hands. ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Y/N squeezed her fists preventing herself from exploding. She didn't like being reprimanded by Abaddon at all, much less in front of other demons.

Things in Sokovia had gotten out of control.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Wanda and Pietro escaped, first manipulated by Ultron and then by the fucking Avengers. As a result, Pietro died in Sokovia trying to save the world. That would have been great if it served its purpose, but it didn't.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ “She lost her twin brother in that battle, her potential has not been unleashed yet.... but is there, I know is in there.” Y/N was quick to say, then clenched her jaw. Abaddon was about  to lose it until she heard the last thing.  “The Avengers took her, she's with S.H.I.E.L.D. now.”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Those words managed to appease the redhead's anger, who sat back down in her huge chair. Some of the demons around her whispered a few things, good or bad, but good enough for Y/N to stay alive.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ “Go with those 'Avengers' or whatever. Do what you must, don't let her out of your sight.” The fierce-eyed woman said, raising an eyebrow. “Chthon will destroy you if you don't, he needs the girl alive.” ㅤㅤㅤㅤ Clenching her jaw, Y/N just nodded.

She decided to turn on her heels and walk towards the door but the war spirit inside couldn't leave it just like that.

Why? She spent fifteen years making sure that stupid girl was suffering to fulfill her own destiny. Through suffering, Wanda Maximoff would transform into the Scarlet Witch, taking on the mantle that belonged to her.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Should she keep doing it now? Even more? ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“If she's so powerful, why should I take care of her? I’m not a fucking angel anymore.” Y/N complained, looking at Abaddon one last time. ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

The demons around them closed their eyes in suffering, they knew that later they would have to suffer and endure Abaddon's wrath because of Y/N. ㅤㅤㅤㅤ “Just do as I say, Leviathan!” Abaddon hissed through those white teeth and then glanced out of the corner of her eye at one of the demons. It was a woman with black hair and brown eyes like a puppy. She was wearing a white shirt buttoned all the way. Her black hair was tied in a tight ponytail. Looked like a secretary or something like that. “And take this useless spawn with you. I'm sick of her.” ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Sighing, Y/N just shook her head and left the office, quickly followed by that girl.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“Stolas… what did you do now?!” Y/N asked, pressing the elevator button, noticing how the brunette next to her finally untied the collar of that perfectly ironed shirt. Y/N knew that if Abaddon kicked her out was because she was fed up with Stolas, a rather young and troublesome demon. Had some important hierarchical level, but not as high as Abaddon or herself. She this big problem called: being naive.  ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Stolas was going to speak but Y/N stopped her. “You know what? I don't wanna know.”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Once both entered the elevator, they remained silent until Stolas couldn't take it anymore and blurted out everything. “I fucked up in the Red Room, big time.”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“I told you I didn't want to know!” Y/N growled and then shook her head, thinking that maybe now with Stolas it would be a lot harder. After a few seconds, the elevator reached the ground floor but before they got out, the brunette turned to look at her.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“Lev?” ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

At that 'nickname', Y/N turned to look at her and noticed the concern in those brown eyes.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“You don't want to disappoint him again.”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

And those words chilled Y/N’s blood, not just because of the way Stolas said it, with so much fear. But because they both knew that disappointing Chton was a direct ticket to nothing, to the abyss, to be thrown into a black hole never to come out again.  That was much worse than hell.

If that sounded bad, betraying or disappointing him was much worse. Frowning, she just shook her head. “I won’t.”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“Thank you for this, Ma'am. You won't regret it.” Y/N said with a kind smile. She was wearing a dark combat suit, typical of a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

After the fiasco in Sokovia, Y/N used her tricks to stay on S.H.I.E.L.D as an agent. She couldn't just walk in and take Wanda away like it was nothing, it would alert the Avengers and the demon didn't have time to unleash chaos like that.

She needed to be sneaky, and passing as an agent and keeping an eye on the Sokovian was the best idea in mind. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“After what I've been told about how you've performed in Sokovia, I know you'll do very well here.” Maria Hill smiled and shook her hand.

Maria was an excellent agent, but she could not overcome a demon’s manipulation. 

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

After half an hour talking about the job they would have at the Compound, that of course working with Avengers was much harder. The missions were much more complex, dangerous, many times with risk of losing their lives and it was a responsibility that they had to assume, if they wanted to be there.

She also explained to Y/N and Stolas that their superior, Natasha Romanoff, would look for them later to meet them.

After five more minutes, both left Hill's office walking through the hallways, greeting some agents who passed by them.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“So… What’s your name?” Stolas asked curiously. “Your human name, I mean.” ㅤㅤㅤ

“The same as always, I get confused if I change it too much.” Y/N wrinkled her nose and then held out her ID. ㅤㅤㅤ

“Y/N Y/L/N?” Stolas read slowly and then handed back the ID. “Cool name.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

“I've been using it for so long that I already forgot mine.”  Y/N shrugged as they left the elevator and walked towards the room they would both share.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“It’s Leviathan.” Stolas said quickly and in an overly naïve manner, causing Y/N to let out a confused giggle.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“... It was a joke.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Oh.” The brunette nodded slowly, surprised. Of course this was all new to her, she had some 'jobs' on Earth but not much to socialize with humans. After a few seconds she took out her ID and showed it to Y/N proudly. “I’ll be Julia Hale. I’m an agent.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

Y/N watched with curiosity as the girl smiled seeing the ID and then put it in her pocket. “Why are you so excited? We're supposed to hate them, you should hate this like you all demons do.”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“Well, I haven't been around here much...” Jules shrugged.  “We're supposed to use them, I'm more excited to experience new things and I like to hurt them sometimes over there, in hell. Working with Abaddon was… awful and boring. Mostly awful, so this is better.”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

But Y/N just listened to everything carefully, noticing that she was telling the truth. In a way she thought that perhaps Abaddon sent Stolas to spy on her, but Stolas - or 'Jules' now - was telling the truth. Abaddon just wanted to get rid of her. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Once they finally arrived at the training area, both walked through the gym, approaching a more private training area where only the Avengers and some agents close to the group trained.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

In the distance, you could see how a brunette and a redhead battled in a ring to maintain control but the widow defeated the sokovian easily.

Y/N tilted her head, noticing that Wanda didn't seem bothered by hitting the mat again and again, but rather tired, staring blankly waiting for it to finish.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

"That's our best weapon?" Jules frowned looking at Wanda.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“That one is interesting.”  Y/N referred to Natasha.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

The woman was very skilled, fast, and of course even if Wanda tried hard, she would never make the widow fall without powers. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“The Black Widow. Dangerous. One of the best weapons in the Red Room for a long time…” ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“Come on. Jab, Wanda!” Y/N muttered under her breath, trying to encourage her 'protege' but once again, Natasha ended up making Wanda fall. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

The demon just shook herhead, how was it possible that that girl ended up being the Scarlet Witch? She could barely stand up. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“At least she’s pretty.” Jules mumbled, breaking Y/N out of her thoughts.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“You shouldn't think that.” Y/N frowned.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

But the brunette just shrugged. “Come on… Like you never fucked humans.”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“I did, but I don't worship them, I just use them.”  As if she was seriously offended, Y/N just grunted and rolled her eyes.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“I just said she's pretty... it's not like you thought that too.” Jules rolled her eyes too. She didn't know why there was such a scandal in liking a ‘human’, without a doubt seeing them was better than some infernal beast in the depths of the darkness. “Anyway, that's all we can do, she’s Chton’s pet.”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Y/N didn't say anything, just stayed silent as they watched the blonde and brunette fight one more time.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Wanda just sat far away so she could drink some water, but although the demon thought it must be tiredness, the sokovian seemed down. You could tell in her aura, something wasn't right about her at all and it stirred something in Y/N, something she couldn't identify.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“Do you already know what will happen to her?”Jules asked curiously, watching Y/N who kept her gaze fixed on the sokovian.  “... that makes her... You know, change?”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“No one knows... I thought it would be Pietro's death, but apparently it's something more devastating.” Y/N sighed. “Just that it will be painful enough to break her whole world.”  

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Although she didn't know it, those words would weigh heavily in the future. As if it were a revelation. Wanda got up again but this time she walked away from the gym.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“Who’s the golden retriever?” Y/N asked as she watched the brunette fall to the mat once again, the blonde seeming to be winning once again.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

The blonde raised her ice-cold gaze and collided with Y/N's for a moment, like she knew something wasn't right, until returning to Kate it softened.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“Kate Bishop… and Yelena Belova, she is the widow’s sister.”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“Mh… interesting. Maybe we should start there, Kate looks like a weak point and desperate for a friend.” ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

That day passed slowly, first day at the Compound had been quite tiring. As if interviews with Maria Hill weren't stressful enough, briefings between Avengers were worse. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“Do we really have to do this?”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ “Yes. We have to.” ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

The sun finally hid behind the huge treetops that surrounded the place. 

Y/N and Jules were returning from a long training session, and although they had much higher stamina than a human being or a superhuman, it was quite boring doing things that you could easily overcome as a demon.

Once they reached the rooms, they bumped into a redhead who was waiting outside with crossed arms. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“You must be the newbies.” With a smug smile, Natasha greeted them both.  “Shame I wasn't at your training today, but someone told me you both are deadly.” ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Y/N didn't say anything, she knew that if she drew too much attention it could complicate things. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“I spoke with Maria and now you both will work with us-” 

ㅤㅤㅤ Before Y/N could say anything against it, Natasha continued speaking since she was her superior.  “You can dine with us if you want. Meet the team... there are just a few of us now.” ㅤㅤㅤ

Jules's eyes widened excited while Y/N remained the same, of course she didn't feel like socializing with those people but couldn't arouse suspicion either.

Y/N just nodded slowly, giving a fake kind smile.

ㅤㅤㅤ ‘I'm not hungry now, but  thank you. Maybe another time.’ It was something she would have said but ended up saying:  “Sure.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Great.” Natasha exclaimed, winking flirtatiously. The three walked together to the kitchen while chatting pleasantly, it was a more private area where the other agents wouldn't be snooping around. ㅤㅤㅤ

At the table were Kate Bishop and Yelena playing some video games, Steve was chatting with Bucky and Bruce, who was cooking. Wanda was on the couch far away, trying to read, and Vision was looking out the window with a thoughtful look.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Hey.” Natasha caught everyone's attention.  “This is Y/N and Julia, they are new and tonight they are going to have dinner with us.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

Y/N felt everyone's gaze on her and could feel the heat on the back of her neck. She had never felt so exposed, and above all, she had never felt so uncomfortable in centuries. ㅤㅤㅤ

Everyone greeted them kindly, Steve was very kind to come over and shake their hands. Yelena just nodded her head saying 'hey' and Kate looked like an adorable puppy excited to meet the new agents, which made Y/N slowly walk away. Feeling deeply uncomfortable. ㅤㅤㅤ

Bruce was quick to say that dinner was ready, and everyone seemed happy about it, willing to help set the table, but something caught Y/N's attention.

Sighing, Wanda walked to the kitchen to get a glass of water and instead of returning to her seat, she walked away. ㅤㅤㅤ

“Where is she going?” Y/N asked as she watched the sokovian disappear.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Wanda doesn't like spending a lot of time outside her room. She's having hard times, the girl lost her twin brother recently.” Natasha wrinkled her nose as she helped carry the salad to the table. ㅤㅤㅤ

“In her Emo era, huh?” Jules joked but Y/N nudged her. “Ouch.” ㅤㅤㅤ

“You know, I think… I want to take a shower first, I'm not that hungry anyway but thank you.” Y/N said as she walked out, finding the perfect reason to leave and not have to socialize with them. That job was tedious enough without having to listen to Bruce Banner or Kate's jokes. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

She decided to go up to their room, taking a nice hot shower and read a nice book until the clock struck midnight.

Jules was snoring on the next bed, really tired. Frowning, Y/N wondered if perhaps it was because that young demon didn't have any experience on Earth. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Her belly growled saying that despite being a demon, she had some basic needs like eating. Sighing, Y/N got up from her bed and left the room to attack the kitchen while everyone rested.

And it would have been a magnificent plan, the kitchen was empty which made her smile victoriously as she opened the fridge. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Taking some bread, chicken salad and some cold cuts, the demon made herself a huge sandwich to satisfy the hunger.

Of course, she accompanied it with some spicy fries that the package clarified were 'property of Yelena -AND ONLY Yelena Belova-’' ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Not caring in the least, Y/N was about to take a bite when a soft voice interrupted the moment. She knew how to recognize that Sokovian accent perfectly, even though Wanda tried hard to hide it. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“Yelena doesn't like people eating her chips.”  Wanda said from the other side of the kitchen, slowly approaching as if she were a grieving ghost. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“I'll deal with her later.” Y/N shrugged. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ Convinced with that answer, Wanda just ignored her and went to the kitchen so she could make herself some steaming tea. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“My name is Y/N.” She looked at Wanda but the brunette didn't even look at her.  “What's yours?” ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Of course the demon knew everything about Wanda, even the things that not even the Sokoviana knew. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“Why are you asking something you already know?”  Finally, she lifted that completely blank green gaze. Y/N could see the deep sadness behind them.

That made Y/N stay quiet and surprised. How was it possible? How did Wanda know that-? ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ Oh. How silly.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ Of course she should know, she’s an avenger, right? EVERYONE knew who Wanda Maximoff was.

Shrugging, Y/N just sat down at the table so she could eat her sandwich. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

That was strange to the Sokovian, who perhaps was expecting a sarcastic response or something like that. Perhaps a curious mind asking about her powers or about Sokovia like everyone else, but Y/N just kept eating.

Taking the warm cup in her hands, Wanda was about to leave until she stopped in front of the table.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

The silence was so pleasant that she couldn't help but end up sitting too. A bit surprised, Y/N decided to share some sandwiches.ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“I’m Wanda.” The Sokovian finished by saying, taking a chicken salad sandwich. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

The demon looked up, colliding with those beautiful, huge green eyes and all she could felt was terror. Not because of the fear of knowing who Wanda was or being recognized, but because there was something about them, something different, perhaps attractive. She really liked those eyes. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“I’m Y/N.” ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ “I know, you said it before.”ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ Finally they both smiled.

And maybe the demon let loose a little more. And perhaps the Sokovian smiled a little bit more, almost in an imperceptible way. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Silence reigned again and both decided to enjoy it, keep eating without needing a word other than the sound of the clock hands.  Although it seemed like a pleasant coincidence, it became routine.

Every night, Wanda and Y/N decided to have dinner together at midnight, avoiding the 'avengers' reunion. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

The talks were usually short, they enjoyed the company without needing to go further. Or so they wanted to think. Wanda was not going to admit that Y/N slowly made her forget the pain and that normous invisible wall was beginning to fall, and Y/N was not going to admit that she liked Wanda's presence, but they were always together sharing that sacred moment. Y/N tried to ignore all those thoughts that reminded her that she should NOT maintain any ties with the witch and it wasn't easy at all.

Some nights Wanda would cook something for both of them, other nights Y/N would bring some Chinese food or pizza.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

But one night Y/N just didn't show up. That Friday night, a storm was hitting the Compound so hard that the treetops were moving violently. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ Wanda excused herself from dinner saying that she wasn't that hungry cause in one of their ‘small talks’ with Y/N, both agreed to make some pasta on friday night. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“Does anyone know where Y/N is?” Wanda asked, trying not to look too worried. Of course Natasha noticed the concern in her voice, but she didn't say anything.

Nat was a very good spy and confirmed it when she found both girls having dinner together, but neither of them noticed it. The redhead was happy for both, especially for Wanda who was beginning to open up a little bit. Natasha respected Wanda's silence, although she made her pay for it in training.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ Noticing that the hours were passing and Y/N didn't return from that mission, Wanda walked back and forth with her arms crossed as she watched the furious wind move the treetops through the window.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ Why hasn't Y/N come back yet? ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

The only thing she knew – and thanks to Natasha – was that Y/N was on a mission in Norway. Things had not gone well at all, but they would soon return with the news and information they needed about the last remnants of Hydra.

But that storm was bringing out the worst in the Sokovian, who seemed to relive the worst thoughts over and over again.

Why was she so concerned about Y/N?

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ Well, maybe because together they managed to establish a small friendship or bond without saying much.

After half an hour and a lot of tragic thoughts, the door to the room opened, letting in this woman in a bit of a hurry carrying a package on her hands.

Y/N's hair was wet as was her clothes, but the package seemed intact. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ “I'm sorry., I'm sorry, I know!” The demon said, approaching Wanda and stopping right in front of her. The drops of water were falling down her face, she didn’t even stop to go up to her room or change clothes. She knew Wanda would be waiting for her, and knew she might be worried. “I really couldn't do anything, the mission got so bad in a blink.”  ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ Lost in those eyes, Wanda's heart skipped a beat. Couldn't even say a single coherent word. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ “We were trapped, the agents were waiting for us but we managed to overcome them-” Y/N said quickly, babbling as droplets fell from her hair.  And at that very moment, Y/N knew that something wasn't right with her. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ Frowning, the demon rethought all her actions that day. Why was she explaining herself to Wanda? Why was she so worried about being on time and not standing her up? ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ Because she knew that Wanda created a routine with her, because she knew that Wanda  lost her brother a short time ago, and that she fled any kind of ties with the Avengers but not with her. Not with Y/N. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ Because she cared, because it mattered. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Suddenly, Y/N remembered that she was still holding that package and decided not to let go. Without further ado, Wanda came to hug her tightly. Closing her eyes, the Sokovian let herself get lost in that warm sensation. Oh, she was so happy to see that Y/N was okay. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

The fear she felt at the thought that she could lose Y/N, even though Wanda barely knew her, was overwhelming. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ Completely shocked, Y/N didn't know what to do. No one had ever held her before, she had never before allowed anyone to touch her so intimately.  Much less hug her like that. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“Are you okay?” Wanda asked quickly, breaking away to look at her. ㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ “I- I'm fine.” Y/N stammered, feeling the heat in her ears. She was definitely blushing and no one, no one had ever managed that. “Some bruises… but we’re okay.” ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ “Is your girlfriend okay too?” Wanda lowered her head, somewhat embarrassed but perhaps also jealous. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“Girlfriend?” Y/N frowned quite confused. “Oh… no! Jules is… my friend. Just my friend.” She stammered quickly, nodding. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“Oh, great.” And as if her soul returned to her body, Wanda just smiled and nodded too.

Finally, the demon smiled slightly without needing to fake it.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ “What’s that?” The Sokovian looked at that perfectly wrapped package.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ Remembering it, Y/N opened her eyes wide and handed it to her. “I brought pasta from Sicily!”  

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ That took Wanda by surprise, who just let out a small, confused giggle.

Noticing her mistake, Y/N blinked quickly and added babbling: “I mean, not really Sicily but the place called ‘Sicily’ in Little Italy. I know it’s not chicken paprikash but…” ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ Taking a huge breath of air, Y/N seemed about to explode but Wanda simply stopped that bombshell with a small smile and a soft voice.  “Thank you.” ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ And that's all they needed, to share a moment together. After Y/N took a quick shower, both finally sat down to taste that exquisite pasta together. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“Why don't you have dinner with them? I'm not saying it bothers me, I’m flattered. I like this.” Y/N said curiously as she devoured that delicious pasta. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ “It's different… with you.” Wanda whispered, watching her face in detail. Y/N was strangely unique; those lips, her nose, how adorable her slightly blushing cheeks were. Although those eyes... they made her feel different, weird but good at the same time. She knew they were hiding something. How strange. “You are the only one who doesn't torment me with loud thoughts.” ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Oh, how curious that was. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Why couldn't she hear Y/N’s thoughts? That question was haunting the brunette for weeks but then she came to the simple answer: did it matter?

Y/N made her feel comfortable, who cares why she can’t? She had to learn to trust Y/N, it was exciting. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ “Everyone here does it, and I can't help it. It’s driving me crazy…” Wanda lowered her gaze for a moment, embarrassed.  “...like I don't have enough pain in my heart. I must deal with anxiety and other people's pain too.” ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Staying silent, Y/N completely understood Wanda's reasons for distancing herself from the others.

Even though she pretended not to care and even though she should NOT care, Y/N  was beginning to make a bond with Wanda and it was inevitable not to feel… empathy.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ It was inevitable not to feel appreciation for those sad eyes, wasn’t that the reason for all this? To create the Scarlet Witch, to forge the most powerful being in existence through pain. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“I won't tell you I'm sorry, everyone does it and it doesn't seem to help you at all.” Y/N barely said, she knew some things about torture and pain. Many, but she had never experienced it that way. “I know some stuff about pain… and if you need me, and want to talk about it... I'm here.” ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Pursing her lips, Y/N just tried hard to smile and shrugged, showing for the first time who she was.

And maybe that was what Wanda valued most, that she didn't need to make her feel better with empty words. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ The Sokovian nodded. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ “How is your ravioli?” Y/N finally asked, taking a bite.  

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ “It’s good.” Wanda smiled widely, taking another bite as well.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ “I’m glad.” Y/N smiled tenderly, wiping her lips with a napkin.  “The owner told me it was late but that she only made an exception because I was soaked.”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ “You did that for me?” Those beautiful green eyes shone with some hope. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ “Of course not, I did it because I was hungry!” Y/N joked. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ Stealing a giggle from the Sokovian, they kept enjoying for a while until the clock invited them to retire to their rooms before Natasha found out and kicked their asses.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ “Y/N?”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ “Yeah?” As she finished putting the dishes in the dryer, the demon looked up to see Wanda in front of her. She was playing with her rings, something she did when the girl was nervous and it looked adorable. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“Thanks for coming back safely.” After saying that, Wanda walked away slowly, feeling her heart racing and her cheeks blushing like a teenager in love. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

And the demon's old heart gave signs of life, jumping when she heard that. Joy could be seen in those 'human' eyes. Oh, what was she doing? ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ “Look, you’re a sea beast! … What’s that? A whale?” Jules asked excitedly as she looked at the screen, searching for information on some random pages about demonology.

Since she arrived on Earth, Stolas was fascinated with all the technological advancement and the knowledge that humans had of them. Some are totally wrong, according to her. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ “A snake! I'm not a whale, I'm a snake! Just- … Can you stop looking for us on the internet?”  Y/N growled as she changed into her pajamas so she could lie down on her bunk. “If someone see you, they'll say you're crazy and you'll ruin our plans.”ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ “No, I wanna see-” The brunette tried to continue but Y/N took her phone from her hands in annoyance and then threw it away, pointing at Jules. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ “You're a gay owl with skinny long legs.”  Y/N hissed, arching an eyebrow. “You teach about astronomy and herbs when you are summoned! Happy? HERBS! That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard, a demon teaching about herbs!” ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ “Hey! that’s not me.” Jules stood up to grab her phone to look for the picture, it clearly looked like an owl exactly like Y/N described it. “I don't look like that. I know a lot about astronomy tho.” ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Rolling her eyes in disdain, Y/N laid down on her bunk so she could rest.

Every night, it took an hour to find sleep. Her body was never so tired as to fall asleep easily, and  thoughts came to her to haunt her one more time.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ Y/N sighed thinking about her once again, but Jules' voice saved one more time, something the demon didn't think could be possible.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ “How is everything going? With Wanda…”   Jules glanced at Y/N, who seemed to focus her gaze on the ceiling. ㅤㅤㅤㅤ “It’s okay.” Y/N shrugged. “Like a hurt beast, but nothing that indicates… you know.” ㅤㅤㅤㅤ The brunette turned to see Y/N with a mischievous smile. “I know you both have dinner together at midnight. I can hear her heart pounding fast in the distance.” ㅤㅤㅤ��� How dare Stolas offend her like that? Watching her with a murderous look, Y/N growled: “I never said that you should follow me. And you shouldn't get involved in other people's affairs.” ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“I didn't do it!” Jules quickly defended herself, a bit scared. “I just… noticed it. Abaddon didn't say anything about you having to bond with her.” ㅤㅤㅤㅤ “I like to have things under control.” Sighing, Y/N kept staring at the ceiling. ㅤㅤㅤㅤ “Or you like to spend time with her.” Of course Jules was more astute than she looked, despite being naive she was no fool. Jules was a high-ranking demon, with the brain and body of a woman who had never experienced anything more than torture her entire life.  “Time is something so simple for us, Y/N, we are eternal… We have seen empires rise, we have seen empires fall. We have seen great people and many other people so horrible that hell was not enough for them... all thanks to time. For us, it is nothing more than sand, but for her it is important, and you like her to enjoy it with you.” ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Y/N turned to look at Jules, who didn't seem to say it in a mean or judging way.

The brunette just blinked slowly, a little thoughtful, maybe even relaxing between those huge pillows.

She wasn't trying to attack her or use it as an advantage, Jules seemed rather curious.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ “And I’m saying: mind your own business.” Y/N narrowed her eyes and grabbed one of the pillows, hitting Jules. “Sleep now, Stolas.” ㅤㅤㅤㅤ “It’s ‘Jules’ here!” Rolling her eyes, Jules settled on her bed and Y/N did the same after turning off the lights. Silence reigned for a moment until the voice of the demon brought Y/N out of her thoughts again. ㅤㅤㅤㅤ “Y/N?” ㅤㅤㅤㅤ Sighing, ready to get up and hit her to shut up, Y/N opened her eyes.  “What?!” ㅤㅤㅤㅤ “If you think the girl needs to clear her head or feel better or... if you want to share your time with her, I think it's the right thing to do… that’s why you’re so much better than Abaddon.” Jules said in a whisper as she rolled over and settled down to sleep. “And you don't hit me all day long, that's good.” ㅤㅤㅤㅤ And perhaps those words finally managed to steal a small smile from Y/N. The urge to hit Stolas or -Jules now- wasn't far, but she understood the demon's relief at being away from someone like Abaddon.

Although demons had an evil nature, they were not all exactly the same. ㅤㅤㅤㅤ Many of them had previously been kind beings who ended up falling. Some with reasons, others not so much. Some were cruel, others were sadistic, and others simply existed. But Abaddon was different, if demons were chaos, Abaddon was cruelty and malice. She was a cruel general, addicted to blood, hungry for violence and that was why Chton had considered her over Y/N.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ There was no room for cruelty in Y/N, except for beings that were truly malicious. Y/N loved giving them what they deserved. ㅤㅤㅤㅤ “Yeah…” Y/N sighed. “That's why I'm not where she is. In control.” ㅤㅤㅤㅤ And although the demon tried to sleep and clear her head, it was difficult not to think about that girl all night. The way Wanda looked at her, or the way she cared for her was so…disgustingly nice.

She had to do something to stop it, and she had to do it soon or everything would become even more complicated.

Well, I hope you like this new story that is running through my head and is saving me from the daily stress in which I begin to die. But a beautiful song made me think about that story, so why not? In my defense, watching 'Good Omens' helped a little. ㅤㅤㅤㅤ I'm sorry for leaving you for so long, my life is getting a bit complex these days… The economy in my country is burning and I try to survive by working hard so writing was difficult for me. ㅤㅤㅤㅤ If you want me to tag you in the next chapters, just comment and I will. Thank you very much for reading me, honeybee! It means a lot! 🐝 ㅤㅤㅤㅤ Do you want to help me? Wow, that's adorable and means a lot. You can buy me a coffee here!

[kalims]

kiss your best friend | ignihyde

kiss your best friend and see how they react!

parts. one , two , three , four , five , six , seven

characters. idia, ortho

content. gender neutral reader as usual, platonic for the bby, wingman ortho at it again, forgot about this ngl

note. sorry guys idia's part was messy but I mean, I'm just portraying his chaotic feelings ig. I SWEAR ORTHO'S PART MAKES UP FOR IT SINCE HES THE CALMER ONE

damn part six finally hear after almost a year (I'm so sorry help)

idia

is having the fastest inner monolog you will ever hear in your life, if it was being read out loud that is. could be nominated as rapper of the year with how fast he's blurting out thoughts in his mind.

also probably vocals of the year too with how high pitched, and small in range it is. what a versatile king 🔥

'anywaysitooklike10yearstryingtofindthisitemcausetheysaidtheysawitbutohmygodwhatinthethreehellsishappeningOMGaretheykissingmechatamidreamingOMGimnot??WHAT WARAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA'

to make your life easier 'anyways it took like ten years trying to find this item cause they said they saw it but oh my god what in the three hells is happening OMG are they kissing me chat am I dreaming OMG I'm not??? WHAT *incoherent screeching.'

probably has never kissed anyone besides his body pillows which is just one sided making out so completely forgets his 'lessons on teaching himself how to kiss' and freezes up. comically gets goosebumps and remains frozen even after you pull away.

then starts turning red from feet to head??

he has so many questions that he in fact, does NOT want to ask cause even if it cost his life he can't question you if you guys are dating now cause YOU JUST KISSED HIM SO THAT MEANS YOU BOTH UPGRADE LEVELS.

wait he can't call it friendship level. clearly you're both past level 10 now right?? INTIMACY LEVEL???? HE DOESNT KNOW HES PANICKING.

is too awkward to ask and acts even more awkward as the time is more prolong during the time he's just left wondering what the hell you guys are now cause he's too pussy to do anything without confirmation that you're both duos for life now.

ortho

is the one idia rants to about his predicament right after you part ways.

like, idia doesn't even try to call or contact ortho through the means of technology even if it meant getting to talk faster. he's BOLTING to the dorm with his unathletic ass (with breaks in between.) because the tea he was going to spill was that good.

listens intently and goes :O when idia finally mentions the part where you randomly kiss him out of the blue, by the way only getting to the point after idia spills.. umm.. the wrong thing to be honest, literally retold the whole day until that point.

yeahhhh.. he has the energy atleast.

idia is probably telling ortho about how it meant nothing even though you literally outright kissed him, to the cheek, mouth, or something and he's still gonna say it didn't mean anything.

ortho gotta be the one telling idia to make the move cause no idiot would mistake that for nothing (except idia apparently but he'll have everyone know that his brother is a tech genius!!)

they both do one of those scenes in movies where P1 - idia, is talking to you in real life with an earpiece, and P2 - ortho is said person behind the earpiece. basically the one telling idia what he should do because that guy is too lost for his own good.

"brother move closer!"

"... isn't this too close already though--" <- embarrassed and regretting everything

in the end he did manage to get a label on the two of you, no thanks to HIM and all the thanks to ortho <3

note. ortho's part just ended up as an extension of idia's part but I always love to include him in everything :') just some behind the scenes on how idia actually got a relationship (ITS ALL ORTHO)

not pr, who prs anyways cries

[saltymongoose]

ohh my goodness. i've been waiting to send these until requests were open bc i wanted to hear ur thoughts.

might be a little silly, but consider: matching outfits. player gathers clothing materials!! and coordinates outfits one day on missions!!!! even makes props!!! hijinks ensue. idk if this had already been disscussed before, but thank you for your time and consideration, ily. you are so cool <<3333!!!!!!! everything you make is so scrumptious!!!!! <33

Omg, thank you, this is so nice of you!!! :D ❤❤❤❤ I love this art so much, you have no idea - the way you portray the boys here fits so well (as always lol). And the memes too omg!! I can't even put it into words to be honest with you, these are just excellent. I do feel slightly bad for that random grunt though, something tells me they'll be sleeping with one eye open after seeing that lmao.

(Also, thank you so much for the compliments too of course, you're far too kind. (˶⸃ ⴰ⸃˶)♡ I could say the same to you btw; your art is always just *chef's kiss* perfection.)

Anyhow, I've actually thought a bit about this scenario before, but this just inspired me, so I wrote some short hcs for you. Hope you like them! <3:

The Player Matches Outfits with Them ft. The Main 3 + 2BDamned

(TW: Yandere, Obsessive Behavior)

- [2BDAMNED] -

2BDamned knew that you had been working on a little project - one that you tried to keep as secret as possible. He was curious, but not enough to encroach on whatever boundary you set regarding it. All he knew from your rather lackadaisical explanation was that he'd be very surprised when he saw. And, well, he was.

The first conscious thought in 2BDamned's head is the question of how you've managed to make a mask that looks so similar to his without borrowing the original. It's really spot on; the seams are in the exact same place, and even if yours has to have been configured differently to fit your more human facial features, the silhouette is exactly the same.

(In the end, he concludes that you simply must've studied his appearance for a while to truly replicate his mask, which makes him feel almost giddy in a way he might've deemed embarrassing before meeting you. But now he's just overcome with happiness that you were obviously interested enough in him to do this.)

He openly praises your skill in sewing, knowing that grunt clothing is ordinarily much too large for you. And you'd notice how the fondness he holds for you seeps into the words, his gaze lingering on you in a way that left you feeling warm.

If you could see underneath his own mask, you'd be able to see the smile he was unable to bite back as well, and the flush that he'd try to will away otherwise. And while he is incredibly impressed (and happy) at what you've managed to put together, he will mention that you could also borrow his actual things once in a while, if you feel so inclined. He just happens to think one of his own jackets might suit you too.

(Of course, he doesn't miss the chance to lean real close to adjust your mask as he says this either, just to fluster you even more. You really have no idea how cute you are, especially looking like this.)

- [DEIMOS] -

A full minute of unintelligible sputtering leaves Deimos' lips the moment he sees your new outfit, and you laugh at the way his face goes bright red. When you said you had a surprise, this was one of the last things he expected.

Luckily for him, he's able to quickly gather his composure, and his excited ramblings turn into smooth flirts that'll leave you blushing instead of him. Expect all sorts of comments about how cute you looked dressed up like him, and praises about how you look even better in his fit than he does.

He insists on taking a ton of pictures together, and you can bet he keeps his favorite in his wallet. (It's one of your faces smushed together as you both grin at the camera, making a heart with your hands.)

He considers this a total power-couple thing; matching shirts are so low-effort compared to this, if anything it shows you perfect you are together. Although there is one thing he'd help you change from your original DIY version of his outfit - those sheet-metal dog tags you made can't compare to the real thing in his opinion, so why don't you just use one of his instead?

Also, don't think he won't take advantage of the fact that you both are the only ones with headsets. Even if yours isn't functioning (because let's be honest, finding one in working condition would be difficult), he'll fix it up quickly just so he can talk more directly to you during missions. And whenever else he wants to, to the irritation of the other three.

- [SANFORD] -

Sanford would consider his outfit to be fairly standard, but he recognized that you were emulating him the moment you slid the sunglasses on. And he couldn't stop the goofy smile from splitting his face when he realized it either, not even attempting to hide his amusement at what you've done.

(He only gets visibly happier when you 'threateningly' brandish your wire hook in his direction. You really put a lot of thought into this, didn't you?)

While Sanford has the amount of restraint in him to not openly brag about you doing this, he can't deny the rush of satisfaction he gets from seeing you in what is an unmistakable homage to him. If you look closely, you'll see him straighten up in pride whenever you come into view. (It's almost like preening, really. If he weren't so flushed, perhaps you'd think it to be more of an ego thing, but no.)

Although, he does show a little bit more concern about some aspects of your outfit. Like your boots, for example; he can't count the number of times he's gotten blisters while breaking in his own, so you should expect him to ask you if you need any plasters (or help bandaging yourself as well).

(If you decide to accept his offer, you'll find yourself questioning whether he ever officially trained as a medic before. He surely has the gentleness befitting of one, shown in how he carefully cleans your wounds and softly applies the ointment, his calloused fingers gently smoothing over the plasters on your Achilles heels afterward. Although you have the slightest suspicion that this tenderness from him is known only to you.)

Sanford will also make it part of his routine to pluck your glasses from your nose and clean them after he does his own. Afterward, he'll slowly lean in when he places them back on you to make sure he doesn't poke you in the eye. Neither of you mention that you could do it yourself, or that his decision to slide them back onto the bridge of your nose himself was highly unnecessary. Maybe he just does it to get a better look at the way you blink up at him and blush, or perhaps it's for some other reason, who's to say? Either way, you have no complaints.

- [HANK J. WIMBLETON] -

Your laughs are muffled under Hank's hands as he cups your face, tilting it up to look closely at you. His excitement at your new look is almost palpable; you can easily tell from how he's shaking and hurriedly looking over, his gaze never stopping on one spot for longer than a second. He just wants to take in everything about your new look, is all.

He'll almost insist on doing a mission with you wearing it, not only because the idea sounds fun to him (with his love of carnage and all), but also because it provides an excellent opportunity to rub in everyone else's faces that you chose to copy his outfit. Not theirs.

In a way, he also becomes just a tad more doting than usual. He busies himself with dusting you off, and adjusting your goggles and the lapels of your coat whenever another skirmish is finished. It's his way of checking you over and making sure your hard work wasn't damaged either.

(Plus, he'd hate it if this instance of you copying him was cut short because of some worthless grunts' attempts at harming you.)

You'll catch him sticking closer to you than usual too, and he does so for multiple reasons. First is that he just prefers to be near you whenever he can anyway (the warmth of your presence is one of his favorite things, and it gives ample opportunity to show off around you), but now there's also the fact that your outfit will freak out your enemies. As you can imagine, he enjoys that immensely, and what better way to improve this experience than to have his Player join him?

In a way, Hank also sees this as a sort of 'claim' you've put on yourself too. Wearing your significant other's clothing is kind of a thing with some grunts, and while he knows they aren't really his clothes, there's still some of that same sentiment there that makes him purr just a bit louder whenever he sees you in that new outfit of yours. It tells the world you're his in some way, even if not officially. So why wouldn't he be happy about that?

[twopoint99]

Possible spoilers if you haven’t already listened or read the book. Also, spoilers for The Horror of Dracula, 1958 and Bram Stoker’s Dracula, 1992.

One of my favorite things about @re-dracula is seeing the reactions of people whose main exposure to the story is through the many film adaptations. The differences in how the characters relate to one another are way too many to list from film to film. Even aside from the bizarre choices (Lucy as Mina’s sister-in-law - the Horror of Dracula, 1958, or Mina as the reincarnation of Dracula’s lost love - Bram Stoker’s Dracula, 1992) the most important difference between those adaptations and re - dracula is that these are fully rounded characters who clearly care about one another.

Jonathan adores Mina, Mina loves him, and loves Lucy. The suitor squad and Van Helsing genuinely cherish Lucy and it causes everyone palpable pain when they see her slipping away. When the group finally gets together in one place, they all acknowledge and respect the various strengths they each bring, and they hold one another up as needed.

None of the characters seem cast aside, as often happens in film adaptations. Even the 1992 film, which includes all three suitors, doesn’t manage to make them all seem like full personalities. They appear more as aspects of an individual, or as tropes. Lucy herself in the ‘92 movie is the complete opposite of her characterization in the novel. Her behavior in the film is anachronistic at best, and offensive at the least. It is a perfect illustration of the stupid and misogynistic attitude in horror that “wanton” women are punished.

Not only that, but it also completely changes the story and the dreadful implications of it. Lucy isn’t targeted because she’s “done something wrong” (quotes because I don’t believe expressing/exploring one’s sexuality is wrong, no matter what my favorite genre keeps telling me), she is targeted because she is convenient. Dracula wasn’t musing in between leaving his castle and reaching England that by golly, he couldn’t wait to terrorize Lucy Westenra! He saw an opportunity, like any other predator, and he took it.

Of course, we’ve seen that he is very willing to play with his food once he feels in control. He was very pleased to be able to torment Jonathan, yet another character who is often treated poorly in adaptations - in the 1958 version he’s so smug and patronizing toward what appears to be a terrified woman, that I was actively hoping for his death.

In contrast, the novel/Dracula Daily/re-dracula show us a sweet, earnest man, one who is gentle and loving. He, like Lucy, is a convenient victim, and like Lucy, is innocent.

The true horror is that terrible things can happen to anyone, and no amount of wealth, education, or simple good-heartedness, will act as a shield. There are no preventatives, and no one “deserves” the terrible things that happen. The real strength of the story isn’t in deciding which characters(usually women) are worthy of saving, an overly simplistic approach that many film adaptations take, some more subtly than others. The story resonates because in spite of the randomness of the horror, the people involved decide to do something about it.

These people are not always perfect or even heroic. Dr. Seward (who I really enjoy, and who is also often portrayed badly in adaptation) is not a safe person for his patients to be around. He is ableist, arrogant, patronizing, and definitely not handling his own mental health well. He is also loving, practical, loyal, and in many ways exceptionally tender-hearted. All of the cast is achingly good in their portrayals, but Johnny Sims’ interpretation of Seward has been revelatory. The man is flawed, but gosh darnit, he’s absolutely human. His pain is visceral, his awkwardness is utterly relatable, and his attempts to make things make sense is so hard to hear, because we want the awful things to be a puzzle with a logical solution, but we also know that there is no motivation for what is happening, it is all chance.

Mina herself questions why they need worry about Dracula, once he is gone from England. By this time she’s had a horrific experience with the count and understandably wants to be done with the whole thing. Earlier, however, she begins her work of compiling all the information available about Dracula, because she understands that something may need to be done, for the good of all.

She is afraid of losing her husband, she is afraid of what other horrors may wait, but she also is able to put that aside to continue to pursue stopping Dracula, so that there won’t be another victim, and so that Dracula himself might be saved from the horrific reality he’s experienced for so long.

I have been telling people ad nauseum that re-dracula is hands down the best adaptation of the novel I’ve ever encountered. It is because it is treated as a story about people, real people, with real connections to those around them, real flaws and strengths, who grow to share a bond. They swear to stop Dracula, not out of vengeance, as Jonathan can be forgiven for wanting, but out of love for those they have lost and those they may save.

[twistedbloodstain]

vincent de gramont x assistant!reader: if my wishes came true it would've been you | a glimpse of the marquis.

plot: the one where the marquis isn’t so sure about you.

warnings: stalking, slight mention of violence, more stalking, staring, soft ooc marquis, invasion of privacy

masterlist

vincent de gramont. the marquis. unforgiving. determined. capable.

he is a man that exudes power by simply waving his hand or by the snap of his fingers. he does not need anyone. not when he has all the power and influence of an entire country. all he needs is himself, no one else. people are a liability, because of what we can feel for them. the moment you let them in. you start to do things that you shouldn’t, but you do it anyway for the mercurial high of their company. but in fact they don’t bring you up, they bring you down. of course, the marquis doesn’t do such practices, he can’t risk such vulnerability, if he is vulnerable then he is weak and the world be fucking damned before he let’s what he feel for someone tear him down.

a pessimist mindset. yes but why does it matter? he can’t even name someone who cares for him, at least someone who isn’t paid to do it. they don’t want his company, they want his money and power that he exercises over this world. the men want his coin and the women want the same or a night of pleasure, he might welcome that invitation if he isn’t busy enough.

there are three kinds of people in the world. those who have something to live for, those who have something to die for, and those who have something to kill for.

“oh, oh…poor vincent de gramont. who would search for him if he went missing? who would mourn his rotting corpse as it’s buried six feet underground?”

a mockery and threat of a rising drug lord when he had refused the terms of a deal. it annoyed him, as much as he didn’t expect it to get into his head. because why would he need to have that? soon he had the fool’s tongue pulled out by one of his men, he doesn’t let such insignificant things occupy his mind. but to answer his question there is one who would.

his assistant. that’s who, mildly amused with that thought. if i paid her more than enough my procession would be like the queen of fucking england. ironically, because his assistant falls into the three kinds of people and wants his money. at least she actually works for it. for once, the wages he’d given were actually worth her value, they weigh the same in a scale and he doesn’t feel forced to pay her that much because she gets the job done with exquisiteness.

when he’d first hired her, he thought she might be too good to be true. either she was a bragging and incompetent woman or a vying fusspot whose words are truthful. he doesn’t mind a perfectionist as long as she gets the job done. however good she might portray her character to him, he was still cautious around her.

this could be a calculated spy sent out take everything from me. if so, she might as well bloody think again. no one can rob me of what’s mine.

possible threats imagined or real must be carefully and quickly dealt with. so the first two months she works for him, he keeps his eyes on her. he has her followed to her home, which isn’t so bad but not really to his taste. but since she rarely gets home to manage personal matters with the endless pile of work he’s tasked her with there’s not much to be reported to him. just the mundane life of his assistant and her cat. he also has her background checked and it’s nothing malicious, truly just someone whose motives are sincere and harmless.

but it’s not enough. there has to be something. when she isn’t in her home, she’s in his mansion. the lavish and spacious place that always seems to awe her.

2:00 AM

a pair of guards open the large decorated chunky door for him, he struts through. quite exhausted from his previous affair that took several hours, something about an assassin getting out of the fold. he checks his watch and a slight scowl appears on his face, annoyed that meeting has taken too long for a good night’s sleep. he had a big day tomorrow, hordes of meetings and an opera in the afternoon. he’ll have to get up early if he wants to witness the entire spectacle.

“bring the car tomorrow around 6 AM and move the meeting with Allaire around-” vincent orders but pauses when he realizes the click of your heels were no longer heard in his ears.

he turns around and sees you motionless. you were occupied with gazing at the new painting that had arrived earlier that morning. he could sense the gears in your head turning, taking in the artistic beauty of the masterpiece. he wonders if just like him you appreciate historic works of art that preside in The Louvre or perhaps you like a more architect approach-

christ. what is he thinking, he’s not even sure of who they are and he’s interested in a pastime she might have? he swallows that thought down and buries it behind his mind.

by the sudden snap of his fingers, he snaps you out of your gaze. you face him rattled and a slight worry occupies your face when you realize you’ve been caught slacking.

“i’m so sorry sir. that won’t happen again, what time did you want the car brought?” you immediately apologize, saving your excuses from him. still bashful from the ogling you’ve done, you don’t meet his stare.

he knows you’re just as tired as him, you’ve been stuck with him for the entire day, organizing his schedule and arranging appointments. he decides to not chastise her for the momentary indolence and let it pass. although he is partly pleased you still try to keep your wits sharp and alert. christ, what in the world is he saying? it must be the lack of sleep, yes that’s it.

“bring the car tomorrow around 6 AM and move the meeting with Allaire around 7:30 AM. lastly, get up early. i have an important matter for you to attend to.” vincent says again, much more firmly this time with a harsh tone, a slightly futile attempt since his voice partly falls flat from fatigue.

“yes sir.” you answer straight away, jotting down what he just said into that little purple notebook.

he turns away from you and walks away to his room.

he has her spied in the mansion. every movement she makes in his home is reported by the guards and staff. rather unfortunate with the latter, since you’ve grown close with some of the staff and half of them inform you of your activities. what they’d reported was not what he was looking for. just filled with casual personal stuff and ventures he’d ordered you to do.

with all that extensive efforts settled, he feels somewhat assured that she won’t turn against him. now he just needs to keep her on his side, and to sense any form of betrayal that might cook while she’s in his employ. he instructs his men to halt from following her home but still let’s the staff inform him of her bustle from time to time. how does he keep her on his side? pressure and observation.

he gives her labors that are sometimes beyond her pay grade and leaves her alone to do it. it confounds her, very much. they both know this is not what they’d agreed to but surprise, surprise. she delivers as ordered, little to no flaws. he observes her reactions, to see if a recipe of hatred was cooking in the cauldron.

he keeps his eyes on you. the both of you just got out from a meeting with a drug lord that had rather difficult terms and conditions he wouldn’t agree to but he entertained them nonetheless for the sake of testing you. since the job fell on you to deliver those terms and conditions.

you keep writing down notes on that journal, he reads some of what you’ve written which are familiar to him.

“huh. still not faltering are you? i wonder when you might raise this matter.” he thought.

your posture is not as perfect as it had been when you greeted him earlier in the morning. the late night seems enough explanation for that. the inside of the car is quiet except for the engine of the car and the rustling of your pencil on paper.

ever since he started giving them to you he hadn’t heard a word of complaint. he’s not really sure what he expected. a bitch fit about how you can’t do it? a conversation about raising your salary? a rant about how he’s being unfair? he’s dubious about the result he was searching for but he should know. he is the marquis. everything must have a reason, had he expected all three so he might have a reason to fire you? maybe. but why would he fire you? you’ve proven yourself capable and competitive. there is almost no one to your like, only a fool would do that. why does he want to get rid of you for no reason?

perhaps it’s because of what you do for him. he knows you’re in it for the money but…but that unwavering loyalty you’ve offered up to him. does it mean more? or is it just something he’s paying for? an even exchange for the both of you. god, prostitutes seemed easier to handle than this, at least with them he knew their motives but with you…he can’t. you’re background is as pristine as water and everything you’ve done is to further his power. what had he done to deserve it? maybe it is true, maybe. there is no amount of money that can give that level of loyalty, even his highest paid employees and previous assistants weren’t even that good. oh, why? why,why,why,why-

why do you look at him as if he’s the rarest thing on earth? why do you follow him blindly with no hesitation? why do you listen to his words clinging to them as if it’s good as gospel?

he snaps out of his inner turmoil and notices that you’ve looked up at him. you’ve caught him staring, he’s slightly abashed because he’d been vulnerable with himself for a moment, and it’s because of you. for a minute he thought you might’ve been genuine to him, that everything you do is because you want to, not for any materialistic gain. he doesn’t show his disappointment. he keeps his face plain and cold and turns away from you, facing the window. he can see the glass pyramid from The Louvre, his mind begins to drift.

you gullible fool, there is no one in this world that can give you that. you know this-you know this. why do you still yearn for that? there are three kinds of people in the world. those who have something to live for, those who have something to die for, and those who have something to kill for and you are not one of them. no matter how much you want it you cannot be one of them. you are the marquis. you are the marquis. you must be untouchable. what you feel cannot be weaponized against you. do you understand? she does not feel anything for you. there is nothing but you and yourself. in the long run, she won’t matter. when you’ve grown more powerful than today what she’s given to you will be nothing but specks of dust.

that’s how he viewed you. after those two months, he treats you the same with no efforts that may seem arbitrary an attempt to veil what he’s felt for you. keeping it professional you might say, he screws it through his head, that he doesn’t matter to you, that it doesn’t mean more.

one day it changes.

almost two years after that car ride to The Louvre.

you take a bullet for him.

but you take much more than that.

author’s note: welp, that’s part three! i found it difficult to choose which pov for part two, idk if I should keep the marquis’ thoughts ambiguous or just throw this in. I had this dilemma in class and decided to go for reader’s pov, it turned out nice anyways feel free to share your thoughts!

taglist: @dcgoddess @1mawh0re @davvydobrik

part one part two part four part five

[deadricslover]

tracing roses

a/n: first post for the loml! I'm a harry Stan 'til I die.

summary: with a whole bunch of changes for the future of one direction, harry doesn't know how he will cope and thankfully you're there to comfort him in his favourite ways.

warnings: no established relationship, anxiety, cursing, Zayn leaving :(, mentions of the management ugh (that deserves a full tw), short post?

pairings: lhh styles x sixthmember!reader

I know that the timeline of events doesn't match the real life one but it's all for the post ok?

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

What the media portrayed harry to be was the complete opposite of what he was actually like. His reputation was the womanizer, cool and reserved guy who didn't have the time of day for anyone other than the band, and really, it was just unfair because none of that was true. Really, Harry was the sweetest guy who cared for every single person he met and would make a whole room light up with the sparkle in his eyes. Despite what the media thought, He had feelings, and needed comfort here and there like every other person.

This particular upcoming show was an important one, it was Zayn's last show in the band but the public didn't know yet, so they had to make it count. Nobody was really themselves today as they knew they had to make a good impression for management if they wanted to continue touring and making music without him as a five person group. These emotions were hightened due to the overwhelming sudden surge of sadness and loss due to Zayn's news. Zayn was your best friend alongside Harry and you honestly didn't know how you were going to cope with not having him around when writing songs or performing anymore.

You stumble into Harry's dressing room to let him know we will be going on stage soon, but are met with a teary eyed Harry with his head in his hands. You make your way over to him and wrap your arms around him from the back whilst tracing circles on his arm and place your head on his shoulder, comforting him.

"I know, Haz. I know" you whisper kissing his temple slightly.

"this is just such a big change" he cries

"I know. and it's going to be so hard for us all to adjust to. But, we have gotta support his decision" you explain squeezing him a little tighter. he replies with a teary sigh, gazing at you through the mirror silently asking to be comforted

"even though I can't fix it, I can help you through it" you add leaning your head on his, sadly smiling a little bit, closing your eyes momentarily.

"I'm just gonna miss him" he confesses, the tears making their way to his eyes once again. Seeing him upset always made your heart drop with sadness, and a set of your own tears pricks your eyes seeing one of your favourite people upset.

"I know, haz. let it out, ok? I'm right here" you comfort as he stares blankly at the desk ahead of him

"I think that the mix of Zayn leaving and the anxiety because this show being so important is just making me so much more emotional" he explains his feelings and you listen intently the entire time, empathizing with him as you feel the same way. This is about him though, he doesn't need to know.

you plant kiss after kiss onto his face, cheek, temple and hair in comfort and keep twirling pieces of his hair around your fingers to calm him down. He takes a deep breath in and out to regain himself before looking back at you through the illuminated mirror.

"what time are we on?" he asks

"we have time" you lie. you came into him with fifteen minutes before the show and now you're running late, but, for an important reason. You didn't want him suppressing any feelings.

he looks at you confused, not entirely believing you but leaning back into your touch and closing his eyes nonetheless, while tracing shapes onto your arm wordlessly telling you that he's grateful for you.

your moment is rudely interrupted by Louis Bursting in the door chaotically.

"guys, why the fuck aren't you on stage. we are late. stop cuddling and kissing and get out and get your mics" Louis demands

Harry hops up and looks at you accusingly. You shrug and leave the room with him, both of you following Louis to the stage. You get your assigned microphones and head towards the stage. Harry grabs your arm on the way and stops you both, facing you and looking down at you with a hand on your upper arm.

"Thank you so much for that. I don't know what I would do without you, I really don't" he informs you referring to you comforting him, making your heart throb.

"it's nothing, harry. just want to make you feel better" you reply smiling wholeheartedly at him.

"I love you so much" he confesses, wrapping you in a hug around your arms and you slip yours around his waist to reciprocate.

"I love you too, haz. always here for you" you reply before the six of you get on stage and open with clouds, and nobody can deny that this show wouldn't be the same and that you would all be acting different.

halfway through 'story of my life' harry was sitting down towards the back of the stage looking quite down and nervous as he knew come the end of this song, you guys would have the encore and then the show would be over, concluding the chapter with Zayn in the group. you jog to the back and sit down next to him grabbing his hand in yours lightly and he lays his head down onto your shoulder.

"you good?" you ask him

"mhm" he replies humming. you didn't buy it, you knew him better than that.

you look down to his hand in yours and examine his tattoos for a minute. your eyes land on the rose tattoo next to his elbow and the perfect shading. Your thumb starts tracing the petals and thorns on the design, comforting him as he is focusing on the feeling of your hand. You knew this calmed him down. He takes a couple of deep breaths and continues singing after Louis finishes his part whilst visibly calming down yet again. He gets up from where he was sitting and starts walking around the stage interacting with a couple of fans and the guys maintaining the hold on your hand bringing you around while you giggle to yourself. This doesn't go unnoticed by fans and you were sure you would see some twitter posts about it later, but in the moment you didn't care, all you cared about was making him feel better and calming his anxiety about this whole show.

you were super lucky to have a harry in your life. You think everyone should have a harry in their life too. And he feels the same about you, he thinks everyone should have one of you in their life too. But then again, he didn't want to share you with anybody. He loved you comforting him, and knew that you would always be there for him and visa versa.

everyone needs a you and harry pair in their life.

[callofdudes]

I don’t know if you’ve been asked this before, but could you do your own take on an AceReader who loves the boys (all 141 guys and König) but feels like they can’t tell them that as they don’t feel Sexually attracted to them? But the boys don’t care (Or knew that already) and they just want to be happy with them? I would love to read how you would go about it <3

I messed up the ask for this one and didn't read it properly. It's really hot here guys I'm not processing things right I guess. But if you want to see the same thing with the actual prompt above you can for it here!

Telling them you love them (platonic)

Summary: Aroace reader struggles to tell the boys they love them with the fear of not actually being romantically or sexually attracted to them. (Different prompt than above :/)

Love has always been a point of tension for you. People sometimes didn't agree with how you chose to live your life. One thing that was practically shoved down your throat was that you cannot say, or express any kind of romantically portrayed affection to anyone you weren't attracted to. You wanted to tell the boys you loved them, but you weren't sexually attracted to them. You didn't want them to take it bad or misunderstand...

Ghost 💀

You knew Ghost wasn't keen on love. He wasn't really keen on anything. So attempting to tell him you loved and appreciated him without being given a glare and a smack in the face was hard.

You usually kept to buying him gifts on the occasion, aiming to finish the paperwork he gave you early. But it all never felt like real appreciation.

You didn't want Ghost thinking that you were into him. Because that just wasn't it. You were sure he was a very attractive man, but he was your friend.

It was easier just to write him a note, put down all your complicated emotions on paper and hope he would understand. And you dropped it in his office, worried he would freak out and yell at you for everything you said.

You were looking at documents on your computer when Ghost came into your office, completely unannounced.

"Sergeant."

"Oh- lieutenant!"

He holds up the note, placing it gently on your desk. You look down, immediately feeling ashamed of what you wrote. You wanted to cower away, not knowing how he would react. Would he be mad?? He obviously thought you liked him by the way he came in.

"I'm not mad."

You flick your eyes back up, still feeling ashamed of the things you'd written.

"But I don't... Well, y'know."

"It's not like that..." You mutter, suddenly afraid to look up at him. Ghost's stance softens, voice getting a bit calmer.

"I know it's not." He steps forward and reaches out his hand, gently ruffling your hair.

You frown, looking up at him. "I love you... Just platonically. I just didn't know how to tell you..."

"Yes sergeant, I understand. Don't worry."

You smile, feeling relief fill you. "You gonna say it back??"

He huffs. "Maybe one day."

"I'll take that." You smiled and squeezed his hand. "You're a good friend Ghost. Really, you are."

The man hummed and nodded, squeezing your hand back. "Thank you I guess... You're not too bad yourself."

You chuckle and stand, eagerly embracing him. "I love you, Simon."

He tensed, but patted your back gently. "I know. Thank you."

Gaz 🧢

Gaz was quiet and reserved. Not like Ghost, but he was a private person. He preferred most of his time alone and you often wondered how Soap managed to drag him into such a tight knit friendship.

But you'd also grown close to Gaz. He wasn't as good with expressing his feelings in words he thought fit, so he just tried not to.

But you knew him for him. The music he liked, the movies and the bands. You two would spend hours just laughing and talking together in the quietness of the base, the best of friends.

You have wanted to express to Gaz how much you love him for a while now. But considering both of you couldn't get a grasp for proper words, you were afraid he would misunderstand.

You were waiting by the cargo station, knee bouncing as you waited for the plane to open. Their mission had been met with problems and there was a slim chance they'd all come back alive.

When you saw Gaz you immediately ran to him, pulling him into your arms and hugging him tightly. "Oh thank goodness."

Gaz was a little surprised but hugged you back. You both stood there like that for a bit until you said it, you didn't care. You'd bottled it in in fear for so long, and you'd almost lost him. You almost lost your best friend. "I love you so much."

Gaz didn't question it. Didn't dig into it. He only held you tighter, reassuring you he loved you back, and he wasn't going anywhere. There wasn't any need for clarification, there just was. Just two best friends so glad to be back with each other.

"You should get cleaned up. I'll make you some tea as well."

Gaz smiles. "You're awesome, thank you."

And without a second thought you both parted ways for a time.

Price 🥃

Price was a warm yet harsh soul. You'd known him for a couple years and he'd been amazing guidance for you. Always a light you could follow. In the darkest of times you could always reach for his hand and be assured you'd find it.

After a recent mission you'd come back a little scratched up. You thought you were going to die and were in tears when you walked over to Price, feeling his arms wrap around you to comfort you.

He hadn't been there with you that time. But you were relieved to be back. Even when he pulled you into his office to clean your face you were still softly crying.

"It's alright sergeant, I've got you..." Price reassured as he pressed the alcohol pad to your chin.

You sniffled, wiping a tear from your cheek. "Price??"

"Yes sergeant. I'm right here."

You sniffle. "You know I love you right?"

He looks deep into your eyes, taking a moment to process your body language and fully understand. "I love you too sergeant. I'm glad you're ok."

You nodded a little. "You... You know it's not sexual right? I'm sorry if..." You asked weakly.

"I know kiddo, I know." He patted your shoulder. "Come here, you're still a little shaken up aren'tcha?"

You nod and crawl into his arms, feeling him hug you tightly. "It's alright. I'm here."

"I love you Price." You choked out again. He softly shushed you, keeping you in his arms. "I know kiddo, I know."

Soap 🧼

Johnny was not unfamiliar with your secrets. He knew you very well and had come to learn of your lack of romantic attraction to others. Didn't change how he saw you, you were still his bestie.

He himself was conflicted in if he should tell you that he loves you. Even if it was meant to be platonic he didn't know how you might take it and wanted to remain respectful of you and your boundaries.

You laid on his bed with him, listening and joking as he told you a story about setting off a small bomb near the recruit bathrooms.

He was laughing so hard his face turned red, smiling wide as his hand brushed across yours while trying to find air.

You smiled back, gently taking his hand in yours. "Soap??" You look up at him with a slightly less whimsy gaze, contemplating the heaviness of your next words.

He slowly calmed down and looked at you. "What is it??" He could see the look in your eye and shuffled closer, getting slightly into your bubble without realizing.

You felt comfortable with him. So incredibly comfortable. All those years fretting and worrying what he'd think. All you saw right now was the smile of your best friend and how much you loved him...

"Soap, I just want you to know... You're my best friend and.." you squeeze his hand. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I love you."

John is a little quiet for a moment. "You do??"

His frown makes you worry as you rush to explain you don't mean it romantically. You just really love him as a friend and everything about him.

It makes a smile spread across his face. He takes your hand and places if against his chest. "You are the most amazing friend in the whole world y/n. I don't know what I'd ever do without you. I love you too."

You smile softly, happy to have said it. "Now tell me what happened with that buzzer." And you two jumped back into conversation.

König 🐙

You sighed, bouncing your knee in agitation. The thought of your first solo mission... You'd be lying if you said it wasn't daunting. You'd always gone on missions with König or different members from KorTac. But you'd never been assigned your own mission.

You started to question if you'd be good enough and could get home ok. It made you worry, if you'd ever come back.

You were wrapped up in your thoughts, not noticing the large figure who sat down next to you, leaning over to look at your face. "What has you looking like that y/n?"

You looked up at the sound of his voice and sighed. "I'm just nervous about the mission..."

He nodded understandingly and took your hand in his. "You'll be alright. I do not doubt your abilities one bit you know. You'll do it."

You chuckle softly. "You say that now but... What if I get hurt??"

"Then I'll come find you." He squeezes your hand. "But you will be alright."

You nod. "König? You know... You've really been a good friend. And you've helped me grow so much since I've been here... I really don't know what I'd do without you here with me."

He tutted softly. "Do not start writing the words for your obituary, y/n."

You sigh, leaning against his shoulder, relishing the last hours you have with him before you'll be sent off. "I... I love you König... You know that? You're everything to me. My best friend and-"

"Shh" he squeezes your hand. "Take some deep breaths." He smiles softly. "I love you too, but do not expect you to be going anywhere soon. Ok?"

You relax, seeing how it wasn't a big deal. Just two friends against the world with nothing to lose but each other. "Ok."

Alejandro & Rudy.

Alejandro sighed loudly, flopping down on the couch next to you and Rodolfo.

"Well well, welcome back Mr. Vargas." You chuckle, putting down your phone to see his tired expression. "How did it go?" Rodolfo asked lazily, eyes still trained on his book, curled up on the couch, his thigh against yours.

"I'm so glad to be off my feet." Alejandro sighed, grabbing the tv remote and turned it on, flipping through the shows before finding something to play.

He gets back up again and wanders into the kitchen, grabbing three ice cold drinks, tossing the other two to you guys who eagerly catch them and crack them open.

Alejandro huffs when he sits back down, taking a swig and finally relaxing. "Glad to be back with my two favorite people."

You and the boys were close enough and comfortable enough that you were ok with their physical touch, so you were used to Alejandro wrapping a respectful arm around your shoulder and you'd usually end up snuggled up, giving Rodolfo the room to join when he wanted.

Today was no different as you snuggled up to his side and felt his warmth. "Geez, maybe you need a bath. And you smell fuckin' awful." You snort.

Rodolfo chuckles and nods. "I can smell you from here Ale."

The man only rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Ya both better appreciate my presence. It's a gift."

You snuggled closer. "You work really hard for us Alejandro. You deserve all the rest today." You smile and hug his waist. You really did appreciate him. The fear and the worry of what he might think, of how he'd feel if you ever expressed it... But you went for it. You wanted him to know how much you appreciated him.

"I love you, Ale. Like I said, you're an amazing friend and you support us so much. Working your butt off like this just so we get a few hours off."

He looks down, a little surprised, but smiled softly. "I love you too y/n, I'm glad to have you at my side."

You stick out your foot, bumping your feet against Rodolfo's. "You too mister!" He looks up and smiles. "You are a good friend y/n, it's a blessing to have you with us."

"Then come here you, get in on the cuddles."

Rodolfo huffs and puts down his book, but curls up with you two as you all watch the show. Nothing better than spending time with your two favorite people.

[purplephantomwolf]

Savoring the Finish Line

Chapter Two

Story Synopsis: Max Verstappen falls in love with a woman who owns a bakery.

Note: This is not an accurate portrayal of how the real people in this act. I do not know them personally, so I will not be portraying them accurately. Also, this is not an accurate portrayal with how a bakery works. I did my best with research, but it's not 100%.

Previous chapters: Chapter One

Next Chapter: Chapter Three

Masterlist

Warnings for this chapter: Badly translated French, panic attack

December 18, 2021

     I rush over to the windows, pulling the blinds down. I don’t think Max wants anyone to see him in this state. After making sure no one can see in, I squat down in front of Max. He’s got his head in between his knees and is breathing erratically. “Hey, can you look at me, please?” I softly ask. Max doesn’t respond to me. I gently touch his arm, trying to get his attention. His head jerks up, looking startled. “My name is Adaline. Can I take your hand?” I gently ask. He nods, still struggling with his breathing. “Okay, thank you. I’m going to help you do what I do when I have panic attacks. Is that okay?” I ask. He nods again, slowly this time. “Okay, thank you,” I smile softly. I sit down next to Max, taking his hand in mine. “Okay, I need you to attempt to breathe in sync with me. I’m going to place your hand on my chest, so it’ll be easier. Is that okay?” I suggest, making sure he’s okay with everything I’m doing. Max attempts to speak while nodding. He doesn’t manage to get anything out yet. “Hey, hey. Don’t attempt to speak yet. Not until you get your breathing somewhat under control,” I shake my head. I lay his hand on my chest, taking deep breaths. I see him starting to take deep breaths. 

     Once I notice Max’s breathing has evened out some, I pull out the next thing I do when I have panic attacks. “Okay, next we’re going to do the 54321 grounding technique. I need you to tell me five things you can see,” I state. Max looks around the bakery. 

     “Uh, tables, you, register, chairs, and the kitchen door,” Max says, slowly looking at everything as he says it. I smile encouragingly. 

     “Good, good. Now, can you name four things you can feel?” I encourage him, nodding.

     “Your heartbeat, my coat, the floor, your shirt,” Max lists off, starting to sound more confident. 

     “Okay, now, what are three things you can hear?” I ask. 

     “Your music, ticking of the clock, and-” Max tilts his head, seeming to be listening to things, “Someone talking outside.”

     “Okay, two things you can smell,” I tell him.

     “Easy. Baked goods and flowers,” he slightly smiles, looking over at the flowers I have along the walls. 

     “Yeah, that’s a pretty easy one when you’re in here,” I laugh. “But last thing, one thing you can taste.”

     “Hmm, is that chocolate I can taste?” He asks, looking around. 

     “Yeah, it is. I have quite a few items on the menu that have chocolate in them,” I laugh, looking at the display. Max grins, looking proud of himself. “Are you feeling better now?” I ask, placing his hand on his knee. 

     “I am, thank you so much,” Max blushes, looking embarrassed. 

     “Of course, I know how bad panic attacks can get when going through them alone. I didn’t want to make you do that. Now, when I have my panic attacks, I always feel weak afterwards. Food and a drink always helps me. Would you like something to eat and drink? I think I have some croissants and kouign amanns left, and I can make some tea or water if you’d like?” I ask, standing up. I hold my hand out to Max, not really expecting him to say yes to. 

     “If it’s not a hassle to you or anything,” he whispers, taking my hand. I shake my head, helping him up. 

     “I wouldn’t have suggested otherwise. Come on, I was in the middle of cleaning the kitchen, so it’s a bit of a mess still,” I blush, realizing the state of my kitchen. I hear a whine come from the kitchen and my eyes widen. Max looks at me, confused. 

     “What was that?” Max asks, eyebrows knitted. 

     “That would be my two puppies. They hang with me in the kitchen while I clean, but if you’re uncomfortable with that, I can take them upstairs while you’re here,” I say. Max’s eyes light up at the mention of my puppies. He violently shakes his head no. 

     “No, no! It’s okay,” he rushes out. 

     “Perfect, they’re sweet, but quite protective of me. They aren’t really around guys, except my employee, Louis. They might take a second to warm up to you. Elise will warm up to you quicker than Lacey, though,” I explain. I walk back to the kitchen, motioning for him to follow me. I push open the door, and Elise and Lacey are immediately running around my feet. I laugh and squat down, petting them. “Max, meet Lacey and Elise. Lacey is the six month old Pitbull, Elise is the year old German Shepherd,” I explain, pointing to each of them. 

     “Nice to meet you, Elise and Lacey,” he grins, sitting down next to me. Max holds out his hand for the dogs. They slowly walk over to him, sniffing his hand. Lacey takes longer at sniffing his hand than Elise. Elise is currently unsuccessfully trying to climb into Max’s lap. 

     “I’m so sorry! She thinks she’s still lap dog size,” I rush to pull Elise off of him. Max places an arm around her and lifts her into his lap. He smiles up at me, shaking his head, gently squatting my hands away. “Alright, alright. What would you like to eat and drink? I have croissants, pain au chocolat, kauign amann, and macarons, water, and tea,” I list off, looking at all my leftovers on the kitchen counter. 

     “Just a croissant and water, if it’s not too much of a hassle,” he mumbles, distracted by playing with Lacey. I grin at the sight, walking over the croissants. I quickly plate a couple, before getting a glass of cold water. 

     “You might want to put the food on the counter and stand to eat. The puppies will attempt to steal your food otherwise,” I laugh, setting the plate and water on a counter. Max lifts Elise off of him and stands up, walking over to the plate. I get back to cleaning my kitchen as he takes his first bite. 

     “This is delicious,” I hear him say. I peak over my shoulder to see his eyes wide, staring at the croissant. 

     “Thank you,” I mumble, continuing cleaning to avoid blushing. 

     Max clears his throat, and I turn to look at him. “So, I know you’re probably not my biggest fan, but I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone about the panic attack. I normally don’t have them, I just got super overwhelmed with some things,” he says, picking at the croissant. 

     My eyebrows knit in confusion. “Why do you think I’m not your biggest fan?” I ask. I immediately start going through our interaction, trying to see when I said or did something that would tell him that. Max looks up at me, before pointing at my shirt. I look down, and my eyes widen. “Merde, of course I’m wearing this when I meet you,” I groan. “I promise you, I am not a Lewis or Mercedes fan; I’ve been a Red Bull fan since they entered F1. My dad got me this when Lewis was absolutely dominating, trying to convince me to switch teams. I only wear it when I clean, hence all the stains you see on it,” I explain, blushing. 

     Max smiles, “Okay. Good to know I’m not eating in the enemy's kitchen then.” I laugh, shaking my head. 

     “I won’t tell anyone about the panic attack,” I say, grabbing out some supplies to make the dough for tomorrow's croissants. “Do you want to talk about what caused the panic attack? I know talking helps me a lot, but I get that I’m a stranger, so I understand if you don’t want to talk,” I say, looking at him. Max seems to contemplate this for a minute. 

     “No, I don’t think I’m ready to talk about it. Thank you, though,” he shakes it. I plop the dough into a bowl, putting it into the fridge for tomorrow. I wash my hands, before turning to him. 

     “Alright, sounds good. Do you need more water?” I ask, noticing his empty water cup. 

     “No thank you, I think I should get going. Let you get back to your cleaning,” Max says, bending down to pet Lacey. Elise whines, running up to me, wanting attention. I laugh and squat down, petting her. 

     “Okay, well, you’re always welcome back. We’re open from 6 am to 8 pm. Always got to promote the business,” I grin. Max lets out a loud laugh, straightening up. His shoulders shake with laughter, and I grin proudly. 

     “Of course, of course. The croissants were delicious. I will be back to try other things. Do you make them all yourself?” He asks, leaning against the counter. 

     “Yeah, I make all the food myself. I have an older couple that I employ that work the front,” I smile. 

     “That’s amazing. I’ll definitely come back to try other things,” he nods, “My trainer is going to hate me.” I let out a loud laugh, shaking my head. 

     “Better not be eating too much then,” I grin, grabbing his plate and cup. I clean and dry them, putting them up. I can feel Max’s eyes on me as I do this. I turn to him when I’m done. 

     “Thank you for the help with calming me down,” he mumbles, turning red and rubbing the back of his neck. 

     “Of course, it is honestly not a problem. I had someone teach me the 54321 grounding technique and it’s been a life saver,” I shrug. 

     “I’ll have to remember it for if I’m in this situation again,” Max nods. I nod, heading to the front of the store. I grab my cleaning supplies, getting ready for the tough job of cleaning the front. Max follows after me, Lacey and Elise hot on our heels. I start to wipe down the tables as Max watches. After a couple minutes of silence, he sighs. “I should get going now, thank you so much for everything tonight,” he says. He starts to walk towards the front door. 

     “Of course, any time. Have a good night, Max,” I smile, following him. 

     “You as well, Adaline,” Max smiles back, before leaving. I make sure to lock the door after him. I look down at Lacey and Elise running around my feet. 

     “What an interesting night,” I mumble. I quickly finish my cleaning. I feel my eyes fighting to stay open, meaning it’s bedtime. I drag myself up the stairs.

     Once I’m upstairs, I grab a quick bite to eat before starting my nighttime routine. Once done with that, I slide under the covers. Elise and Lacey jump up onto the bed with me, snuggling in for the night. I fall asleep cuddling with them, not believing how my night went.

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Taglist: @bookishbabyyy

[literary-illuminati]

2024 Book Review #19 – Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

This is the third book I’ve picked up as part of my whole aspirational ‘read a piece of non-SFF capital-l Literature every month’ New Years resolution. Of those three, it is the second I opened only to discover it actually is science fiction and/or fantasy after all. Which is just a very funny thing to happen twice, and also meant the book was significantly less outside my comfort zone than I’d expected. Which did make it quite a pleasant read.

The story follows Klara, an AF (Artificial Friend, a companion robot for children) in a broadly sketched and mildly dystopian future America. At first it just follows her life in the shop where she’s kept, observing the world around her and interacting with the store manager and the other AFs, but the meat of the book is her life with the family who buys her. Over time you learn that Josie, her child, suffers from severe and increasing health issues as a consequence of being ‘lifted’ (genetically enhanced, in some unclear way) in the womb. Klara, being solar-powered and having quietly developed a one-robot religion underpinned by a firm belief in the power and benevolence of Mr. Sun (and a moral opposition to Pollution, which obscures and drives him away) does her best to invoke his help in nourishing and restoring Josie. At the same time, she learns that her job is not just to comfort Josie but, should she die, to be her mother’s replacement goldfish and imitate her perfectly.

The setting is broadly sketched and never really exposited upon – it’s just not something Klara is particularly interested in – but it’s a very modern sort of dystopia. Much of the populace, even among the American professional elite, have been left ‘post-employed’ by robotic automation. The remaining meritocratic elite have embraced novel and risky genetic enhancements for their children, as the only possible way of ensuring they get into a good school and one of the few good careers left. There are fascist militia compounds off in the distance somewhere. The overall feeling is that of a society dimly aware it’s midway through collapsing, but with no ideas of how to arrest its fall. But since Klara has no interest at all in either politics or economics, we only see this as it directly intrudes upon the story, with nary a lecture or manifesto to be seen.

I’ve only ever read one other book by Ishiguro, so I really don’t know how much this generalizes, but the similarities to Never Let Me Go really were striking. Both books are set in really rather horrifying societies, but portrayed in an utterly normalized way by someone who never even thinks to question the real rules they live under. Which is even more striking because in both cases the protagonist is seen by society as only quasi-human – like a person, but existing only in relation to and for the benefit of the people who really matter. And in both cases the story follows the protagonist who lives their life moving through the role they were made for without ever really resisting it, let alone changing it. Not that the roles of ‘friend to sick child’ and ‘mandatory organ donor’ are exactly comparable but, you know.

A definition I’ve always kind of liked for what makes literary fiction, well, literary is that it’s as or more concerned with the beauty and presentation of its prose than it is on the information the prose is conveying. Not at all true in terms of how the term’s actually used (genre is marketing), but it works for me, and lets this book count as literature quite handily. The whole story is told quite tightly from Klara’s point of view, and it’s a pleasure to read. Even if it took me more than a few pages to really understand how she described scenes, always foregrounding the ways they were divided by grids or patterns of the sun’s light.

Portraying the normal human society through the eyes of a naive and somewhat alien narrator to get away without explaining everything is a classic sci fi trope for a reason, but it’s overall used really well here as well.

I’m still not entirely sure how to interpret the sudden intrusion of magical realism with the ending. But otherwise, really quite a good read.

[elliespuns]

Seeing the whole Joel thing with a Daddy kink reminds me of something else, Ellie being so horny? Like yes I read them because it’s a fanfic😔 but realistically speaking after a victim is hit with SA they can either be easily repulsed by sex or be hyper sexual. I’m sure Ellie didn’t suffer a lot after David & I love how your Drabble captures it after.

Another thing I hate when people say Ellie has so much experience in sex? Like being honest she’s probably only had sex about 2 times because it’s clear she’s had sex before when she got with Dina. Not to sound like a perv but Ellie did have Cat before & suspecting since they were both 17 & dumb teens it’s likely they did it before.

Another thing I really doubt Ellie would be dominant in bed being honest she probably looks like a standing stick bug trying to top you, as much as I love her. (I wanna give her a big fat smooch) yes I am talking about older Ellie & in none of these paragraphs am I talking about 14 year old Ellie-🕸️

ELLIE'S TRAUMA: The thing David did to Ellie was horrible. I still have chills just thinking about it. It definitely took a toll on her. We can see it when the game skips to the spring section (which is already a few months after David) and the deer on the wall awakens some bad memories of the incident in her and she suddenly becomes really sad and distant.

But as you say, I don't think she suffered that much from it (hopefully thanks to the fact he didn't have a chance to actually do any real harm to her). We can also see that it doesn't affect her as a person that she is in Part 2 at all. All she is is because of what happened at the hospital, not because of what happened with David. Of course, she carries it with her everywhere she goes, but after she managed to kill that motherfucker, I believe that her strong personality and bravery helped her to accept it and move on.

There are a lot of fics that capture her trauma after what happened with David, but I think the writers just portray their own trauma through Ellie for they feel close to her because she went through something similar (or the same). Which is okay. It's just not canon for Ellie as we know her. I think she felt bad for a long time after it happened, but I also believe that she was more upset about having to chop the man's face into pieces than about him hovering above her, trying to do things. I guess the fact that he didn't have time to finish what he started caused Ellie to be more 'accepting' of it.

ELLIE'S SEX LIFE Ellie is definitely not as sexually active as many people make her in their fics (again, it's just their way of portraying her as they want her to be). Which, again, is completely okay.

Although there are a few fics that make Ellie be like this and that just doesn't rub me the right way. Whenever I read something like this, I have a feeling I'm reading about someone else. I don't read much of the Ellie x reader thing (mostly because in most of them she is portrayed as a dominant and hypersexual nymph and it's not my thing), but I've read a few.

I have to admit though, that until recently, I always thought that Ellie had her first time with Dina. But when I play the scene in my mind over and over, I can see she's the one pushing Dina down, laying on top of her, feeling confident about 'taking over'. Which wouldn't probably happen if she was completely inexperienced. She knew how to do that already, and she had no other intention than to make it happen.

I also think that she had sex with Cat (and if not sex-sex, they definitely did things together). They must have tried. C'mon, I don't know how old Cat was, but Ellie was 17. That girl was probably having sexual thoughts at 15 already, let alone at 17. I mean... let's not forget she was still a hormonal teenager like everyone else at this age.

And as far as it goes for Ellie being dominant, yeah, I can't see that. She's probably this cute, little lame cookie trying her best to make her girlfriend feel good, always asking things like, "Is that okay?" during her first time or "Does that feel good?" during regular sex. Like, I'm sorry, I just can't see her pushing someone against the wall with words like, "I'm gonna fuck you so hard, you won't be able to walk." Like, no, this is not the Ellie we know.

[linkspooky]

Hiii spooky I how have you been enjoying season 2 so far? After seeing the characters being brought to life I’ve realised one thing and that is that Suguru is really hard for me to grasp and I don’t know how to portray him. On one hand he seems dark and brooding and serious but then he’s also goofy and deeply caring and he’s not ashamed to show it. He has lots of soft smile but then we see him smile like 😊 that when Riko manages to annoy him. He seems to have so many facets in a way that other characters just don’t…? and maybe in theory his behaviour and parts of his personality seem contradictory, but it doesn’t actually feel like it is?? because he doesn’t really put on any mask, at least his teen self doesn’t, and you can kinda tell what he’s feeling… he’s not as loud as Gojo, he doesn’t really express himself verbally, but to me he’s still more open than him. You can see his emotions on his face or in his body language because he doesn’t really try to hide them, whereas Gojo as loud and expressive as he is.. I often find myself struggling to tell what exactly he’s feeling.

I’ve also seen many people portray Geto as “nice and polite but that’s just for appearances and he’s actually bad and cruel” which feels like a pretty flat interpretation of him… I’m really struggling as you can tell I think I might be missing the point entirely lol I just wanted to know your thoughts on it.

Hello, anon! Thank you for the opportunity to talk about Geto! You are correct in that he's a far more nuanced character than a lot of people give him credit for. The popular fandom belief is that Geto was lying about his ideals all along, but I think it's the opposite. Rather than a liar, Geto's real problem is that he's true to himself to a fault. I'll address your ask and talk more about this under the cut.

Fandom Geto

I’ve also seen many people portray Geto as “nice and polite but that’s just for appearances and he’s actually bad and cruel” which feels like a pretty flat interpretation of him… I’m really struggling as you can tell I think I might be missing the point entirely lol

In my opinion the fandom in general tends to flatten Geto's character for two reasons, number one they want to make Geto look worse to make Gojo look better by comparison. The second and more relevant is that they want to otherize Geto because his beliefs are so extreme. That someone who can slaughter people on that large of a scale must have been cruel to begin with, a normal person, especially a good one isn't capable of that.

Which I think misses the point. Geto wasn't shown as someone with cruel tendencies to begin with, the entire hidden inventory arc showed how much it took him to be pushed off the edge like that, with factors like trauma, witnessing the deaths of sorcerers his age, and the jaded adults around him who made no real attempts to reach out to him and help him in time all contributing factors to his downfall.

"An endless cycle of exorcism and consumption. Exorcise. Consume. It's a taste that nobody knows. The taste of a curse. Like ingesting a rag used to wipe up vomit. Exorcise. Consume. For whom? Ever since that day... it's been running through my head."

What makes this monologue so effective is it summarizes a year of Geto constantly questioning himself as his mental state deteriorates. I do believe Geto always looked down on the weak, but he did it the same way that Gojo did. He separated himself in a different category from others, both Gojo and Geto believed that they were on the side of the "strong" and that put them above others. It's just on top of that Geto believed that standing above others came with the obligation to protect them, and that was the part that came into question.

However, if he believed weak people were "monkeys" from the start, if his desire to protect them was a false belief than he wouldn't have taken an entire year of spiraling before he snapped. The manga wouldn't put such intense focus on #1 Geto's internal world, and #2 Geto struggling with trying to figure out what his ideals and beliefs really are if he was just hiding a darker and crueler set of beliefs.

For example, we have Maki a character who five minutes after the death of Mai decides to massacre the entire Zen'in Clan even the members who had absolutely nothing to do with it, as opposed to Geto who wrestled with the idea of it for a year, and Maki doesn't get the same accusation from the fandom of being cruel and violent all along. Geto's a character of internal struggle. His righteous nature is what led him astray. Not because he was lying to himself, but because he was trying to find what the right thing to do was. It's just his idea of right and wrong got eschew because of the incredibly grey and myopic nature of the Jujutsu World.

Geto's True Feelings

He seems to have so many facets in a way that other characters just don’t…? and maybe in theory his behaviour and parts of his personality seem contradictory, but it doesn’t actually feel like it is?? because he doesn’t really put on any mask, at least his teen self doesn’t, and you can kinda tell what he’s feeling…

I agree with your assesment that Geto is a character that's true to himself rather than a character that's putting up a false front. Geto is a character that contradicts himself a lot, one example is pointed out to us by Gojo. That he justifies his slaughter of non-sorcers for a bigger goal of creating a world without curses, and yet Geto himself isn't strong enough to actually make that ideal a reality. There's basically no scenario where he could have won, like theoretically maybe Gojo could have done it, but killing every single human being was just impossible for Geto.

Which is where we get to the point that Geto is twisting logic around to justify himself and his slaughter of innocents, but at the same time the Jujutsu Kaisen light novel adaptation of JJK0 says this isn't a lie, but rather Geto's attempt to remain true to himself.

To live for the purpose of being yourself. And for that goal, Geto could only continue to pursue his twisted dream, drowning himself in a curse that lies in the gap between ideal and reality. This was the final confession of a man who could only choose to wrap himself, who had erased himself in pursuit of his goals.

The gap between ideal and reality is a pretty significant phrase for describing Geto, because part of what broke Geto is he sees the world as how it should be, rather than how it is. Geto's failure is in part a failure to adapt when he sees the darker side of the world after Riko's murder.

In my opinion the animated version of this scene is far better than that of the manga. In the anime it shows Geto staring at the crowd joyously celebrating Riko's death who are all complicit in it while he tries to list off reasons why they don't need to take vigilante justice out on the crowd, beause there are systems in place that will punish these people on their own.

Geto is trying desperately to convince himself that these people will see justice, because the world is a fair place. All the while Gojo just walks away, because Geto's answer "There's no meaning in that" is a good enough answer for him. Geto desperately needs to search for a reason and convince himself that what they're doing is the right thing, whereas Gojo doesn't really share Geto's habit of questioning the world around him.

This moment reminds me of a quote of Megumi's at the beginning of the manga "Karma doesn't happen on its own" he later goes on to describe how the justice system and jujustu sorcerers are systems set in place to try to make the world a fairer place. Geto wants to believe that too, even when he's shown direct evidence that Jujutsu Society isn't idealistic at all.

Which, Gojo doesn't really question the society around him until after Geto's defection. He doesn't see a problem because Gojo is the perfectly fit cog, he's born into this society and he's the best at what he does. I think one important thing is that Gojo is the chosen one of the Gojo clan one of the three major houses. The golden child. Whereas Geto who is someone just as gifted as Gojo for the most part, has non-sorcerer parents and therefore was born outside of their society. Which it makes sense why he'd have more of an outsider's point of view, whereas Gojo can accept these things for a long time because that's just how they are, he grew up with this.

Geto's not lying to himself about his beliefs, rather he witnesses the world is not as just as he thought it was, and then struggles between two really opposite beliefs. Which is something Yuki Tsukumo pointed out to him.

Yuki: Do you hate non-jujutsu sorcerers? Geto? Geto: I don't know...I used to think Jujutsu Sorcerers existed to protect non-sorcerers, but recently I've been doubting whether or not non-sorcerers are worth fighting for... [insert monologue here] I don't know which are my true feelings. Yuki: Neither is. You're not at that stage yet. Looking down on non-sorcerers, resisting that feeling...those are just possibilities you've tought of. Whatever your true feeling is, you still have to decide.

If Geto wanted to slaughter non-sorcerers from the beginning it wouldn't be a deliberation for him. He wouldn't be arguing himself and trying to justify himself for over a year. Geto is basically caught between ideals and reality. The ideal is that his work as a sorcerer to protect people is good and making the world a fairer place. He wants to believe that there is meaning behind his work, that he's doing the right thing. The reality he's faced with is the senseless slaughter of people like Haibara. The idea that he is just a cog in the machine that will continually sacrifice more and more sorcerers. That therefore their sacrifice is not making the world a better place, and not justified. He can't face the reality that he and his friends are expendable... and really, who can?

"If being a Jujutsu Sorcerer is like running a marathon... what if what's at the end of that road is a mountain of our fellow sorcerer's dead corpses?"

Ironically, it's Geto's search for the right thing that leads him astray. He becomes unable to see any point in the continual sacrifices the strong sorcerers have to make for what he views as the ungrateful weak non-sorcerers. I don't think he believed that from the beginning though, because as you pointed out above his interactions with both Kuroi and Riko who are non-sorcerers shows a lot of care for their emotions and well-being. If he never cared about non-sorcerers, than he wouldn't have reacted as badly to Riko's death as he did.

he doesn’t really put on any mask, at least his teen self doesn’t, and you can kinda tell what he’s feeling… he’s not as loud as Gojo, he doesn’t really express himself verbally, but to me he’s still more open than him. You can see his emotions on his face or in his body language because he doesn’t really try to hide them, whereas Gojo as loud and expressive as he is.. I often find myself struggling to tell what exactly he’s feeling.

Gojo and Geto are foils and inversions to one another, so I agree with what you stated that while Gojo is loud his true feelings tend to be more concealed whereas Geto for the most part makes his care and concern demonstrably known in the first few chapters of hidden inventory.

There's the famous "Geto and Gojo both make fun of Utahime for being weak in different ways" that a lot of people cite as evidence for the fact Geto looked down on weak people all along, but as I stated above his way of looking down on them is he saw them as a seperate category than himself a strong person. However, I don't think that means his attempts at taking care of Riko are insincere.

Gojo and Geto are both shown as looking out for Riko, Geto does it in more obvious ways and Goo does it in more subtle ways, but that just shows the difference in their personality. Gojo is rude and obnoxious on the surface, but thoughtful on the inside. Whereas Geto true to his nature makes an effort to be considerate and look out for people. One of the reasons I put the conversation between Gojo and Geto as the banner image for this post is because it shows Geto's naturally considerate personality, going out of his way to ask if he's okay. Geto is direct. There's a mirror scene to that later where Gojo notices Geto has lost weight, showing he does in fact get a grasp that something is wrong with Geto, but chooses an indirect approach of asking for it.

Geto goes out of his way to give Riko more free time and time to spend with her friends even though it makes the mission more inconvenient because he recognizes these are her last few days on earth. It's Geto who notices that Kuroi is essentially family to Riko.

When Kuroi is kidnapped, Geto is deeply troubled by his failure and blames himself. Geto shows his concern in a direct way being troubled by Kuroi's disappearance, whereas Gojo shows his concern in an indirect way, setting up a kind of sink-or-swim test for Riko where he tells her she can only come with if she's ready to face the fact that Kuroi might be dead and she can't back out halfway through. All as a test of her resolve. They both care and have different ways of showing it.

Gojo shows his concern for Riko by insisting they stay another day for her sake, and Geto only argues against it because he's worried Gojo is pushing himself too much with his use of the limitless. Geto's visibly happy to see both Gojo and Riko enjoying thmeselves and views the scene with a soft smile. He reassures Kuroi not to worry about letting herself get kindapped because they handled it just fine.

They both cared about Riko, they both agreed to help her quit the merger. Geto's desire to protect her is one hundred percent sincere, this is when he still believes in his ideal of protecting the weak, and he's following that ideal through. That's why his way of reassuring her is saying "we're the strongest" because that's how the world is supposed to work in his ideals. The strong protect the weak, and if you're the strongest you should have no trouble protecting others.

When both the world and Geto fail to live up to that promise that's where he begins to question himself. Which is where I want to get to one of the major differences between Gojo and Geto. All centering around Geto's final words.

"In a world like this, I couldn't be truly happy from the bottom of my heart..."

There's a scene someone pointed out to me in a twitter thread at the end of the Shibuya arc where Nanami contemplates retiring to Malaysia just as he dies doing his job and fighting against many cursed spirits and then is executed by Mahito. All because he chose to stay and fight until the last minute. At the end of the arc, we see Mei Mei fled the battle half way through and is now comfortably sitting in a hotel room in Malaysia. Mei Mei is someone who is implied to abuse her younger brother, whereas Nanami is someone who stated it's the duty of adult sorcerers to protect children and goes out of his way to do that for Yuji.

One of them lives because she is selfish, and even an abuser, the other dies. The first is the kind of person that benefits from the corruption of Jujutsu Society, the second is swallowed up from it.

The line Geto couldn't be truly happy from the bottom of his heart also refers to this fact, Geto just couldn't cope with the reality of Jujutsu Society because it's an increidbly myopic and cynical place where the people who get ahead are selfish people who simply don't care about others and frequently use and abuse others to get ahead, and the ones who get swallowed up are people with good intentions like Nanami. This is the world he can't cope with. He's fundamentally incompatible with Jujutsu Society and driven out of it because he wants to do the right thing, not because he was evil to begin with.

Whereas Gojo also sees Jujutsu Soceity as something rotten don't make any mistake, but he's also someone who is able to function in Jujutsu Society much better that Geto because he was born inside of it. Geto is driven out and Gojo seeks reform from the inside because he's like the ideal of jujutsu society, and he was born to be. He's selfish, and egotistical, and he's so strong he can bully the elders and throw his weight around. Of course Gojo doesn't really abuse his power, that's what makes him so interesting a character, he has all this power and for the most part uses it responsibly to exorcise curses for the good of society rather than abuse it for his own sake.

However, he can stay within that society because he's used to it, a lot of things about that society he accepted how they were for a long time until he saw the toll it took on Geto. Gojo is the ideal of Jujutsu Society, he's held up as the model sorcerer of the corrupted society so it takes him a long time to spot where that corruption is. When he does he also wants to do something about it like Geto does, but he takes it in a more measured way he's not driven out because he's intrinsically a part of that society.

Whereas for Geto he's just one hundred percent incompatible with Jujutsu Society as a whole, one because his idealistic nature just doesn't mix well with a dog-eat-dog cynical society where everyone is out for their own gain and people like Mei Mei climb to the top. Number two, Geto himself has a very uncompromising nature. He's sincere to a fault. He doesn't really deal well with moral greys. He can only exist in a black and white world where he has clearly defined goals of good and evil, he just sort of flips white for black, and black for white.

Thus Gojo is much better at coping with that society as a whole and trying to find a way to work inside the system, but also to begin with he's not someone who naturally questions things the same way that Geto does. In fact in general I would say another point of foiling between them is as you pointed out, Geto is someone far more true to himself not wearing any masks, whereas Gojo's loud personality is a mask. We are privy to Geto's thoughts and his internal world, we basically spend the entire hidden inventory arc inside of his head. Whereas with Gojo he is so distanced from his own emotions oftentimes the audience themselves don't get to see what they really feel and are left guessing. Even the people around Gojo aren't really aware of what his real feelings are, his students and all his coworkers basically just summarize him as "he's the strongest."

Geto basically drowns inside his own head trying to figure out what his true emotions are, whereas Gojo is someone so distanced from what he really feels he's completely alienated himself from the people around him. Hence why Shoko can say stuff like "damnit, I've been right here all along for eleven years idiot" while Gojo monologues about how alone he is in front of her.

Which is what really makes them such good character foils. It's not one is good, one is bad, one is a liar, one is telling the truth, they're actually just both idiots.

[sailorblossoms]

Baz can't be trusted here (on unreliable narrators and the comphet of it all)

Something very notable to me is that time the author (when talking about how she approached the "love triangle" in CO) said that “it's normal to date people you’re not even attracted to” because yes. I immediately agreed with that when I read it, I've seen it in real life... but it kind of blew my mind anway, because you normally don’t expect a romance author to say that when talking about her characters, and you especially don't expect to see that portrayed in their work. It's not the expectation ("I can see Agatha and Simon are not into each other, but they must have been at the beginning" it's an assumption and an expectation." They never actually express that! "It wasn't always like this, it used to be good" it's never what's said! When Penny talks about their relationship seeing better days, she likely means their friendship, because she says "I don't believe they're in love." They express feeling like they're supposed to be with each other, that they're supposed to want it) (I can and have elaborated before but not here, that's not where I'm going right now) I think this is very important to identify and acknowledge because once you start with “not in love and not attracted, then why the hell they dated?” you arrive at so many answers about who these characters are and what they're looking for. About how a relationship that existed partly because they were trying to find a place in the world makes them feel more lost than ever, and how that's a good thing, because it means they're asking questions they never even imagined existed before, questions that will help them figure their shit out (and figuring it out what they don't want, which is what they had, it's also progress).

But what brings me here right now is Baz. When people want Simon and Agatha to be "real," (as in romantic and/or sexual) the arguments they bring up (it's normal to have romantic or sexual feelings for different people at different stages of your life, which is true, but it's not what's happened with them, we don't have to insist it is for their experience to be valid or to matter, comphet is a real thing that exists etc) are things Baz has very present. I mean, look at his family. He has heard the stories about their parents, and despite her aunts' best efforts, he sees his dad's relationship with his stepmum as valid and even good for the man. He expects Simon to have had romantic feelings for Agatha, and to have been attracted. Even when Simon it's voicing how wrong it all felt (including not feeling shit when he should probably had) Baz still assumes he must've been into her at some point. But note that these are assumptions to Simon comes to find upsetting, that he fights against when Baz voices them when it would be easier not to. I think the most telling part it's when Simon practically looks at the camera in the style of the office and says "what I liked about her is that I didn't like her" – it's comfortable that she didn't awake anything in him. It's safe that he didn't experience romantic or sexual feelings with her ever, because those feelings are too overwhelming to him, too dangerous. Note how he was always losing his shit around Baz, how he comes to believe, when he finally identifies those feelings, that Baz would be the death of him. Very telling too is that while Baz hears and accepts Simon's "nothing compares to you," what Simon reveals here (which can be sum up with "this is part of why he calls himself a baz-sexual") it's shocking. It's likely also hard to internalize, because Baz has programming he had to work against, which includes seeing himself as monstrous and undesirable.

Which brings me to the point about comfort: Agatha is comfortable because she didn't awaken anything in Simon. It's comfortable that he doesn't have to manage or process shit around her, he's perfectly chill in her presence (which is certainly not "baby is in love" or "baby is discovering attraction" behavior) (especially given Simon isn't known for restraint and being chill) (his behavior around Baz, however...) She's comfortable because she's a childhood friend, she's familiar and trusted. She's also uncomfortable. We could make a list of moments that reveal Simon's discomfort with her, which is less about her and more about just not really being comfortable with going through the motions of being her boyfriend (because he likes the idea of it, what it represents, but doesn't actually like being her boyfriend, hence him being "shitty" at it while being aware).

I have compared how Baz sees Simon comfortable beside her vs how he didn't see the discomfort that was very present between Simon and Agatha in a previous scene. I think the gist of it it's discomfort at being reminded of/being perceived as a couple vs comfort at being able to simply be friends again. Again, many reasons for Agatha to be comfortable (childhood friend, familiar, trusted, etc). It stands out but "the guy who's on edge 24/7 can be at ease around a childhood friend" it's probably not something that should stand out that much. It shouldn't affect Baz, and yet...

Here I'm reminded of a recent post where the author mentions Agatha and Simon's friendship won't ever be fully relaxed again (which I find easier to believe than the alternative). In that goat scene, there's comfort that's specifically about them being able to feel like friends again, free from outside pressure and influences... while, at the same time, we're reminded of the pressure, the optics that pushed together in the first place with Baz's thoughts. The framing alone makes it so it's not fully comfortable... and what are the current standards of comfort for those two anyway, given that they have been used to discomfort while dating? Given that this very moment is followed by some level of discomfort when both have their version of "what happened there is nothing to be jealous of, it's just a moment of friendship" with Niamh and Baz? How can we know if there isn't an undertone or some lingering awkwardness that's sort of brushed aside or pushed through in this particular moment? (Simon is shirtless until he gets close to Agatha, he's fully clothed then).

I've spent so much time noting the discomfort between those two (because of the comphet of it all) that it always stood out to me that Baz highlights comfort (hence that long ass posts) and while I don't think he's entirely wrong (for reasons already stated)... he's actually not someone who can be trusted to assess shit when it's about Simon and Agatha. Every time Simon processes or reaches conclusions about how wrong he felt dating her it's in Baz's presence (because he wants Baz to understand, even when he himself doesn't) but Baz is still affected. The wounds are still fresh. At this point, he has spent a longer time believing Simon was destined for someone else than he has spent believing Simon wants to be his. It fucks with his emotions and perception, even if he logically knows he should know better. There are years of programming he has to go against. He might be good at reading others in certain circumstances (clocked Shepard's deal with Penny pretty quickly) but the "golden couple" and interest in himself are huge blindspots. Note that he thought they were happy together even when Agatha explicitly told him otherwise (when Penny was observing the same thing and essentially saying "this isn't it, please go back to being friends" – granted, she was looking more closely, but still). Note that in this very moment, Baz is looking at them and being affected by the optics of them standing together, and how that very much would fuck with him (notable that that's how Simon describes the relationship too, optics! when he should be talking about feelings! as "a picture where I look like who I am supposed to be" and what are the feelings? "feeling like a fool" and expressing discomfort) (Niamh seems affected too, but she doesn't seem like one for nuance, or to be trusted in her perception either – doesn't she still calls Simon "her boyfriend" to Agatha despite being corrected?)

Baz links the image of them standing together to the sun. He has to look away. It burns. If you can't even look at something long enough... you won't notice the details.

So how can he be trusted in his perception of how comfortable Simon truly is, about the type of comfort he's feeling (because there's the bad type, the "turning off my brain and not pushing myself to figure out what actually want" type) and where that's coming from? If there's a struggle Simon is pushing (or attempting to push) through would he even notice? Or would he be too blinded, too burned to look closely?

[lemonhemlock]

No because all the anons talking about the Aemond x TB OC self insert fics are so real. Because those are so ridiculous derivative it is crazy

-White haired Targaryen looking child of Rhaenyra, probably named Visenya is either 1- takes after her mother because genetics don't exist 2-is the one trueborn daughter of Laenor and Rhaenyra who was conceived during consummation

-Can sword-fight, ride, talks like a 21st century woman, is a #girlboss and a 3rd wave feminist

-Takes Aemond's eye out as children instead of Luke being the one to do it

-Aemond somehow falls head over heels in love with her because she is #notlikeothergirls and just really really super hot

-Aemond abandons his family, his brothers, his sister, his mother and all the people he cares about to go fight for Rhaenyra because apparently the SI is just so hot and he is so in love with her

-They probably repeatedly have amazing super hot poorly written pre-marital sex but SI ofc doesn't get pregnant but there is no explanation like moon tea or anything

-Aemond calls his family out for being misogynistic haters or something for some reason????

- 639363 pages of Alicent bashing

-Aegon is the devil himself

-SI and Aemond get married and have children with white hair who they name after Rhaenyra and Daemon

-Author somehow managing to sneak in their own opinions that Rhaenyra is the one true heir and her and Daemon are innocent little saints who do no wrong

Just explained the plot of like a min. of 50 of Aemond x TB OC fics

i mean.... yeah :)) good for them for having their fun, but, bless their hearts, i had to check out

at the end of the day everyone can relate to this feeling of frustration when the majority of fics skew in a direction you're not a fan of. and every author should absolutely feel like they can post whatever they want and enjoy themselves; the target audience isn't always you and that's fine. but i simultaneously feel like venting these annoyances with like-minded people in your own space is also not a crime. sometimes we don't like stuff and want to gossip about it. it's really not that serious, everyone has the thinnest skin imaginable these days

it's like we've forgotten how to interact with one another. not liking something is not a personal affront to the person who does like it. it does not require outrage at the expressing of an opinion. it does not require a silencing campaign. you shouldn't expect others to keep quiet all the time just so your feelings won't be hurt. the fuck. especially when, i repeat, the tags can always be muted. what are you even doing interacting with the posts if the mere act of verbalizing a dislike bothers you so much?

there's a world of difference between occasional banter and sending authors hate, leaving disgruntled reviews, telling people to kms or insinuating that on your blog, casually accusing them of being illegal sexual deviants and whatever other deranged insults stans trade like candy and we definitely should stop acting like these two things are the same. you don't have to turn everything into a fight in the trenches

Anonymous asked: Yeah while I don't expect Alicent to be portrayed in every fic as the best mother who has no bad qualities since nobody is perfect it's becoming tiring to constantly read about how she's always trying to actively destroy her children's lives and is to blame for most things including the upcoming war while Rhaenyra is an amazing mother who truly loves her children and can do no wrong, like the worst she'll do is maybe arrange some unwanted marriage to her OC daughter or betroth her to another man who is not Aemond. I've come across to stories in which Alicent was abusive to Aemond for no reason other than she's a bad mother, was physically recoiled by his lost eye, turned and indoctrinated him into a religious extremist just like she's always portrayed in many fics or even tried to have Rhaenyra's daughter be assassinated just to prevent Aemond from defecting to the other side by marrying her and not the Baratheon daughter the greens want him to marry. To some extent I do believe it's very hard to avoid some OOC-ness from these characters since they're being put into new scenarios that didn't happen in canon and everything about this is being left to the author's personal interpretation which will naturally spark some debate whether or not what a certain character's actions are believable within their universe, however, due to the formulaic nature of a lot of those fics most characters (especially green ones if we're talking about Rhaenyra's daughter OCs) are brought to insane levels of OOC just to make their story work. Like yeah, if Aemond has constantly been abused by his mother (not physically necessarily), by Aegon, by his grandfather and, on top of that, Alicent and/or Otto try to have his beloved OC assassinated well, chances are this will make him denounce his family and switch sides sooner or later. Something that would've never happened under normal circumstances. Oh and I've also noticed a trend in quite a few of these fics of using Alys in cheating tropes and always turning her into an evil witch and seductress who tries to separate Aemond from the OC and use him for her own benefits…all I'm going to say is you don't want to see how demented and misogynistic people get about her in the comment sections. Anyway I'm sorry about extending this discussion about Aemond x OC fics and I hope it hasn't attracted too many weirdos who are spewing hate in your inbox!

i pretty much agree with you, anon, not much more to add. :))

[naoko-world]

My opinion on the Percy Jackson tv show season 1!

So I watched season one of the Percy Jackson tv show as it was released and now here is time for a quick review!

Sorry I wanted to finish this drawing before, hope you like it! (To be honest i didn't draw the drawing on the shirts, I just used what was used on the Disney store, but I draw the rest.) You can see it on my Instagram too, without the review

SPOILER WARNING

I'll start my review of season one by talking about...

The characters

Well, first I wanna say I like how the three main characters are being portrayed here ! Percy is a very loving and kind character while Annabeth is a smart girl desperately looking for recognition from her mother. As for Grover, he's a kind and clumsy satyr who really likes Percy and it shows. Basically these three characters love and trust each other and it's incredibly obvious ! Even Annabeth and Percy, who start their relationship by not being that much trusting in each other. I really like how their quest improve their relationship !

What I love too is how the adults are shown, especially Sally and Poseidon. Sally, who was shown as a perfect mother in the book, became a woman who is doing her best to raise her son in the series and I find it so interesting ! The book is in Percy's point of view so it's obvious that he would see her that way, but the tv series isn't exclusively from his point of view so it can show her turning desperate because she don't know how to effectively protect her son. I can say I really like her scene with Poseidon too, that was so touching!

Just a word about Gabe, who is way less clearly abusive. A lot of people thought it was a problem, that he was too nice, but I thought it made him even more scary because if he's not physically violent against Sally, he's still clearly psychologically abusive. Though it seems like Sally is able to manage him a bit.

Just remember that abuse isn't always physical, that you can be abusive without hitting anyone.

The gods

I can say I like how the gods that appears in this first season are portrayed!

Dionysus is so manipulative and bitter, I love it! Even if we never say it in the series (from memory), it's obvious that he doesn't want to take care of the demigods, and I love it!

Ares is wonderfully portrayed as a being who has a real passion for the war ! For example, we see him having fun on Twitter and, later, Grover succeed to convince him to talk to him by talking about less-known wars. He also has that wonderful vibe of "don't mess with me or I'm going to beat you to death".

We don't see Hephaestus a lot but again you feel it's someone confident who is a very skilled blacksmith.

I love that as soon as we meet Hades he's very welcoming and behaving in a very "I don't care about what's happening with my brothers" way. He just want to protect the underworld and, again, it's obvious.

Zeus is incredibly intimidating which, again, I love so strongly ! I can understand why no one would stand to him.

Finally, Poseidon is a very loving dad who can't do much for his son but is trying when he can try. I also love how, at the end, he ends up standing to Zeus to protect Percy. Then the very awkward interaction he has with him because the didn't talk much, Poseidon was mostly absent, but he still love him.

The adaptation

Now, of course I'll talk about the adaptation. And I'll start this part by a very personal story: how I discovered Percy Jackson.

I started my discovery with the movies. Actually with the first one only, I didn't want to watch the second one because I didn't understand why it would have a sequel. I thought it was enjoyable, though very cliche, but far from the best movies. As I didn't know the original story I thought it must have been an adaptation of a very average book series who must have gotten a bit of success and has been adapted because Hollywood didn't have any idea anymore.

Then I finally read the books because a friend insisted it was good, and Internet was talking about how it was full of representations... And now I hate the movies ! Because I considered we could have gotten incredible movies out of the books ! But we didn't...

Honestly I'm not angry that the tv series made so many changes. Because it wasn't exactly my problem with the movies. My problem was it made changes that didn't make any sense, transformed the story into something very cliche and sexist, and wasn't respectful of the mythology when the book was.

I'll only give one example that angers me a lot: Grover's case.

In the book Grover is a very sweet, kind, brave and goofy character who love his friends and even more his girlfriend Juniper! He's very likeable, and a good protector for the demigods he's in charge of.

In the movie he's not likeable at all. He's a goofy character and likes Percy but he isn't sweet and only think about girls... Like you have a scene where he decides to stay with Persephone because she's hot... He clearly isn't sacrificing himself at all. Overall I don't think he's likeable, I thought he was kinda useless and annoying.

In the tv series... He's kinda goofy but not too much, and he's sweet, kind and brave. More than that, he's considerate and I actually like that he's clearly intelligent in this show because he lived longer than Percy and Annabeth. He's not entirely faithful to his book counterpart but the changes make sense and he's still very likeable and I want to hug him so hard !

For now, I'll conclude there. I'll probably rewatch it and make a new review later but I don't want to say I'll surely do it so I won't have pressure. That first season wasn't perfect but it was pretty enjoyable and I can't wait seeing what they're doing next. To be fair, The lightning thief wasn't the best book of the series so I understand it wasn't as fun as the last books.

[tortured-demigods-department]

an unhinged (and unofficial) dissertation on the pjo fandom

so i don't usually post anything that isn't my-works-related, but i had a...mildly heated discussion with a fellow film student tonight about the pjo show and it's got me thinking. bear with me, we'll be here awhile.

as we all know, the first season of pjo has ended. i've stayed relatively OFF tumblr and other social media during this time, but i know there are a lot of OG fans who are (in their words) "massively disappointed" in the show. most of the complaints i've heard have been during in person conversations though, so this post is mostly going to be referencing real complaints i've heard.

i've been a part of this fandom since i was thirteen. that's nearly eight fucking years of my life that i've devoted to the pjo universe. i have written and consumed YEARS' worth of fanfiction, i have read and reread every book so many times i can quote them forwards and backwards, and i went to the bookstore every single year on the new books' release dates to pick up my copies in-person. this fandom, these characters and this world have brought so much joy to my life, and i don't think i could ever fully articulate that in words. when i think of this series, i genuinely feel nothing but happiness.

but a few years ago—around the time i started college—i started distancing myself from the fandom for one glaring reason. this fandom can be such an...angry place? like, genuinely, i don't know how far it goes back—maybe all the way to the release of HoA, honestly—but i wasn't here pre-HoA, so all i know is that i very much remember how much people hated ToA when it came out.

here i was, having the TIME of my life with apollo and his silly little haikus, and people are going to war over how the series' writing quality has gone to shit and how everything was better before, blah, blah, blah. IN SPITE of everything that series gave us—discussion of the repercussions of child abuse and ptsd, representation of lgbtqa+ characters, and deep psychological messages that really teach young readers, i think, how to better understand themselves and their emotions and deal with them in healthy ways. and it just wasn't fun to be in a fandom where, as soon as you go "hey, did you read the new book?" they scoff and roll their eyes and only want to talk about how terrible it is. (i also missed all the discourse on the sun and the star when it came out—PHENOMENAL read, btw—but i've read some things that lead me to believe that it wasn't well received either, in spite of how lovely it was.)

so...it's dramatic to say i "left" the fandom, but i certainly withdrew from it. deleted my pjo ao3 and tumblr, started over with a different fandom. but the love has always been there, and the show starting really helped spark it fully back to life.

but now, the same thing is happening again, i'm noticing. remember back in the day, when we only had the shitty fucking movies, and we were like "man, ANYTHING would be better than this garbage. literally just give us actors who are the right age and we'll be happy." well, now we have PHENOMENAL kid actors who genuinely are having a good time playing our beloved characters, and instead of supporting them, we're STILL complaining about them not being "portrayed correctly"?

i've talked to so many people who complain that percy is "too smart," which is kind of a bullshit insult to percy's canon character. in the books (at least the first five) we're seeing things ONLY from percy's pov. he's a kid who's struggled with learning disabilities and been told he's an idiot all his life by everyone except his mom—but as others have pointed out way more eloquently than i could, percy is a very intelligent and powerful individual while maintaining his goofy fun personality, which is WHY so many people love him so much. he's complex, and i think they managed to capture that really well in the show even amidst all the changes.

don't get me started on the fucking racism towards leah sava jeffries—i'm honest to gods ashamed that there are racists who call themselves pjo fans. she is so talented, and everything we ever could have hoped for in an on-screen annabeth. ALL of the kids are—there's literally no argument to be had there.

and then, if people aren't complaining about the casting, it's the series' writing. or there's too much exposition. rick is changing too many things. the directors don't know what they're doing. it's not a TRUE book adaptation. (someone said that to me, and i genuinely laughed because i thought they were joking. when the MOVIES exist, they wanted to make that comment about the show.)

are there some things i would change about the show, given the opportunity? god, yes. the set design for the underworld was horrendous. (in my opinion, of course.) but here's the thing. i have spent eight years of my life waiting for this show to happen, and in that time, i've learned a lot about how much goes into successfully producing such a complex series. how much money and time is spent, and how many people have to be on board to make it happen. it's genuinely kind of miraculous that we're even getting this show at all, considering all the ways it could have failed before it even made it out of pre-production.

and i think we, as fans, sometimes forget that we aren't owed this. we don't own the percy jackson franchise. it makes me so sick and tired when authors or artists in any capacity feel like they have to cater their works to the masses, because they know they'll get thrown into the fucking fire if they don't. rick and becky riordan didn't have to got to the trouble of producing this show for us. they chose to—everyone involved chose to—because they wanted to make something fun and enjoyable not only for the fans, but everyone who chose to be a part of it.

do you know how insane it is that, when you read pretty much any interview of pjo bts, everyone talks about how fun the production was? i've been on film sets. they can be ABSOLUTELY miserable when they're not done right. but eight months into production, the kids were still laughing and having a good time, everyone's still giving 100%, they're excited, it's fun. walker was willing to go into a diving tank for a full fucking day in order to get one scene—i know i would never have that kind of dedication, and i bet 99% of you wouldn't either.

i know this has gotten really long-winded, but i've said all of that to say that...i'm kind of tired of fans trying to bring down the show, and more than that, trying to bring down each other for having a good time. as i've said before (many times, i'm sure), i waited eight years for this, and i have had SUCH a fun time watching it. assuming we get a season 2 renewal, there are going to be even more new fans coming in than we've already gotten from season 1, and i want this fandom to be a fun and positive place for them. for all of us. we don't have to miserable and angry all time. we can critique the show, sure—it's not perfect, and it was never going to be—but we have to remember that television is an art form, and that art is subjective even when it involves our favorite characters. and we can accept that and still have a good time, because it's just more fun to have fun, you know?

this fandom has always had so much potential to be the BIGGEST, most supportive and kind and loving fandom. with how much representation this series has, with how much content we've been given, with the SHEER massive number of us...i've always thought we could be a really, really great community. maybe it's impossible to hope that we could be the best fandom on earth, but if nothing else...could we all try to just be a little bit kinder? genuinely, as cheesy as it may sound...it's just nicer when we're nice to each other. and when there's so many real things in the world to be mad about...i would much rather this be a place where we can come to at the end of a long day and just...feel at home. personally, i just think that would be really, really nice.