#this terrible misunderstanding that continues to follow them

[placetneplacet]

I keep coming back to Team desperately trying to hold onto this idea that Win’s interest in him is casual. They are hooking up, Win does this all the time. Team isn’t special and that’s ok it’s normal he shouldn’t feel guilty…

But all Win is trying to do is convince Team to be open to the idea of pursuing a relationship with Win.

[vadlings]

Represention of Autistic Frustration in Laios Dungeon Meshi

Like many other autistic people, I related strongly to Laios Touden while reading Dungeon Meshi. This post isn't going to spend time disputing whether he displays autistic traits or not—while I could do that, I want to focus on why specifically his portrayal struck a chord with me in a way the writing of most other autistic-coded characters has not.

Disclaimer: as the above suggests, this post is strongly informed by my own experiences as an autistic person, as well as the experiences of my neurodivergent friends with whom I have spoken about this subject. I want to clarify that in no way am I asserting my personal experience to be some Universal Autistic Experience. This post is about why Laios' character feels distinct and significant to me in regard to autistic representation, and while I'm at it, I do feel that I have interesting things to say about autistic representation in media generally. This also got a bit long, so I'm sticking it under a read more. Spoilers for up to the end of chapter 88 below.

The thing that stands out most to me in regard to Laios' characterisation is the open anger he displays when someone points out his inability to read other people. This comes up prominently in his interactions with "Shuro" (Toshiro Nakamoto):

The frustration pictured above (Laios continuing to physically tussle with Toshiro, using crude language toward him) becomes even more notable when you remember that this is Laios, who, outside of these interactions, is not easily fazed and often exists as a lighthearted contrast to the rest of the cast. Then we get to Laios' nightmare.

In Falin's words: "Nightmares love emotional wounds. Wounds you hold in your heart. Things that give you stress, or things that were traumatic for you. They aggravate memories like that and cause the dreamer to have terrible dreams." (chapter 42, page 10.) (damn. i'm properly citing for this post and everything.)

Thus, Laios' nightmare establishes an important fact: even if he is unable to recognise social blunders while he's making them, he's at least subconsciously aware that other people operate on a different wavelength to him, and that he's an outsider in many of his social circles (both past and present). His dream-father's disparaging words stress the impact this has had upon his ability to live up to the expectations set out for him, and we also get a panel of kids who smirk at him (presumably former bullies to some degree). Toshiro's appearance only hammers home how much Laios is still both humiliated and angered by his misunderstanding of their relationship.

I've thought a lot about anger as concomitant to the autistic experience. When autistic representation portrays ostracization, it's generally from an angle of the autistic character being upset at how conforming to neurotypical norms doesn't come easily to them; as a result, they express a desire to 'get better' at meeting neurotypical standards, a desire to become more 'normal' (whether the writing implies this is a good thing or not). In contrast, not once does Laios go, "I need to perform better in my social interactions, and try to care less about monsters, because that's what other people find weird." His frustration is directed outward rather than inward, and as a result, it's the people around him who are framed as nonsensical.

The Winged Lion starts delineating Laios' anger, and Laios' reaction is to think to himself, "It can sense all my thoughts, huh?" (chapter 88, page 16.) This is the scene that really resonated with me. I'm not saying I have never felt the desire to conform to neurotypical norms that is borne from insecurity, but primarily, I know that I don't want to work toward becoming 'normal'—I don't want to change myself for people who follow rules I find nonsensical. It's the difference between, "Oh god, why can't I get it," and, "WHY CAN'T YOU GET IT?" (phrasing here courtesy of my friend Miles @dogwoodbite). And for me personally, Dungeon Meshi is the first time I've seen this frustration and the resultant voluntary isolation from other people portrayed in media so candidly. Laios' anger is not downplayed or written to be easily palatable, either.

The culmination of Laios' frustrations in this scene wherein we learn that Laios has fantasised about "a pack of monsters attacking a village" drives home just how alienated he really feels. I need not go into his wish to become a monster himself, redolent of how many autistic people identify/have identified with non-humans to some degree as a result of a percieved disconnect from society (when I was younger, I wanted to be a robot. I still kind of do.)

Obviously, wishing death upon other people is a weighty thing, but the unfiltered nature of this page is what deeply resonated with me. The Winged Lion is laying Laios' deepest and most transgressive desires bare, and they are desires that are a product of lifelong ostracization by others (whether intentional or unintentional). This is the brand of anger I'm familiar with, and that my neurodivergent friends express being familiar with, but that I haven't seen portrayed in writing so explicitly before—in fact, it surprised me because most well-meaning autistic representation I've experienced veers toward infantilisation in trying make the autistic character's struggles easy for neurotypicals to sympathise with.

Let's also not neglect the symbolism inherent to Laios' daydream. "A pack of monsters attacking a village". Functionally, monsters are Laios' special interest—he percieves everything first and foremost through his passion for monsters. His daydream of monsters attacking—killing—humans, is fundamentally a daydream of the world he understands (monsters) overthrowing the world that is so illogical to him, that has repeatedly shunned him (other people). I joked to my friends that it's an autistic power fantasy, and it actually sort of is. And in it, his identity is aligned with that of the monsters, while his anger manifests in a palpable dissociation from the rest of humanity. This is one manga page. It's brief. It's also very, very raw to me. I think about it often.

To conclude, I love Laios Dungeon Meshi. This portrayal of open frustration in an autistic character meant a lot to me, and I hope I've sufficiently outlined why. Also, feel free to recommend media with autistic representation in the notes if you've read this far—I would really like to see if there is more of this nature. Thank you for reading. I'm very tired and should probably sleep now.

[robbie-wallis]

I need to vent about Watcher, endure it if you can

Relax, this isn't a parasocial thing, but it is a long ass post, which suits me as a long ass human.

I need an outlet to discuss the terrible business decision Watcher has made by announcing their plan to leave YouTube, and this long-forgotten Tumblr account reached from its grave to grab at my ankle.

If you didn't see their video, good for you. It's extremely cringe-worthy in its sentimentality and editing, with blurry shots, pensive pauses and obligatory sad piano.

But at least there's no f'ing Ukulele.

Although, I think we might get the Ukulele in a few months.

Even though anyone who reads this is probably familiar with what the "Ghoul Boys" have done, I feel as though I need to add a little history.

WATCHER HISTORY

You can skip this part if you've been obsessively following the shenanigans, this is for the noobs who were never a "shaniac" or a "boogara".

Shane Madej and Ryan Bergara used to work at Buzzfeed. They hosted the successful Buzzfeed Unsolved shows. In 2019 they followed in the footsteps of the Try Guys and Safia Nygaaard and left Buzzfeed to create their own YouTube channel named "Watcher".

They brought along Steven Lim, another Buzzfeed person who is most known for the "Worth It" series. This series followed Lim and his friend/s spending obscene amounts of money on obscenely overpriced and indulgent products.

Think of it as being similar to the $100 V's $10,000 Sidemen content, only without the self-awareness and British "bad lads" humor.

Notably, even the Sidemen seem to have cut back on those adventures, perhaps understanding how bad it looks when so many people are struggling to pay their essential bills.

Steven became the CEO of Watcher while Shane and Ryan continued to create and present for the new channel.

They were wildly successful by YouTube standards. At the time of their self-spanking on Friday they were close to achieving 3 million subscribers, in just 4 years, based on basically only 2 cornerstone shows. If Social Blade is still a reasonably trusted source in everything but estimating income, they were gaining thousands of new subscribers every week.

Their most successful shows were Ghost Files, Puppet History, Too Many Spirits and Mystery Files.

Ghost Files is the only one of these shows which requires heavy investment, travel, a large crew and impressive production costs. These videos are shot on-location and require a lot of work. The rest are basically Good Mythical Morning style, just the two hosts and their banter.

Aside from Ghost Files, their content could be created with 3 cameras, 2 lapel mics and a good editor.

They were massively successful, solely because of Ryan and Shane.

THE DEMISE

So, what did they do on Friday 19th April? They decided to announce the launch of their own subscription platform.

Not a Patreon for extra content, behind-the-scenes, audience interaction etc, (they already had a Patreon with 6,000 paying subscribers earning them at least $50k a month), but a bespoke streaming platform which looks like a clone of Netflix.

The cost is $5.99 a month, or $60 a year.

Comparable to Netflix.

And by that I mean the price is comparable to Netflix while the content is comparable to a 4 year old YouTube channel.

Don't get me wrong, their production quality is incredible. The quantity, however, is not.

From the end of May viewers will have to pay to be a subscriber on their own platform in order to watch their shows.

They'll still be posting their trailers on YouTube, and the first episodes of new shows, but to watch it all you'll have to pay up or miss out.

Edited to add: Variety originally reported the Watcher crew were planning to remove all their existing content from YouTube to monetize it on their own platform. It's since been confirmed they will not be removing their old content. Fans are undecided whether this was a back-track after the announcement or a misunderstanding by Variety. You be the judge.

Of course, they're entitled to do this. They are creating a product and you can either enjoy it or not. No one is entitled to see it, for free, whenever they like.

Why did they do this?

Half of the sombre video gushes about their "humble beginnings" as "struggling young guys in a big harsh world", which comes across as extremely self-indulgent and ego-stroking.

A quarter of it explains how insanely successful they've been on YouTube and how this is all thanks to the fans who stuck with them after Buzzfeed, how it's allowed them to hire 25 people, how it's given them the freedom to create what they enjoy making and what the viewers want to see, and - most importantly - how it's allowed them to increase production quality on Ghost Files.

The final quarter of the video explains that this isn't good enough, the quality isn't high enough, the finish not glossy enough, it's not "TV caliber" enough! They want more, they need more, you have to give them more, mostly (apparently) because their CEO Steven Lim wants to bring back his show where he flies around the world with his bestie sipping Champagne and eating gold-leaf-covered lobster.

In short, they want more money to make even bigger things, even though their audience never asked for that.

WHY IT WILL NOT WORK

Oh my goodness, this is going to be a ride so strap in.

I'm not a YouTube creator so there are a lot of things I do not know. Having said that, I know a little about business.

This ain't Buzzfeed, y'all

Watcher became successful because of Ryan and Shane. It was their friendship, their personalities, and the content we loved to watch featuring them at Buzzfeed, that brought us along for the ride.

The audience they poached from Buzzfeed is there for them and Ghost Files. It's not there for Steven Lim and "Worth It". His show worked under the Buzzfeed umbrella only because they had numerous sub-categories in that community to support it.

The Try Guys left and created their own channel from their Buzzfeed fans.

Safia Nygaard left and created her own channel from her Buzzfeed fans.

Shane and Ryan left and created Watcher from their Buzzfeed fans.

Steven Lim left and became the CEO of Watcher. He didn't take his audience with him.

The audience of Watcher is not the audience of "watch me fly around the word with my pal and spend $100K on hand-reared, Whiskey marinaded, diamond-encrusted Kobe steak".

And... IN THIS ECONOMY?

Steven chose to become a CEO instead of a presenter. He's missed the opportunity to take that Buzzfeed audience with him.

This is made clear by the Watcher channel itself. Their "man eats food" content rarely breaks 500K views while their Ghost Files breaks 2 million consistently.

If a million of their viewers followed them from Buzzfeed to Watcher, the other 2 million have joined them since, based almost entirely on their spoopy content.

Not only did they base their channel on this genre and format, they have distilled their audience further ever since the creation of their channel and no matter how hard they try to diversify into "man eats food" it's just not working.

This ain't Netflix, y'all

As mentioned, the $5.99 charge is comparable to Netflix and just about every other streaming platform. Only Watcher can't give you even 5% of what a competing platform can offer for that price.

Other platforms also tailor their content and their pricing based on geographical location and localized economics.

You're paying far less than $5.99 a month if you live in an economy where the median household income is $300 a month. YouTube has a global audience. Their subscribers don't all live in a stable economy where $5.99 is considered disposable income.

We don't know the numbers, but I would guess only 60% of their subscribers are based in the USA, Canada, and the UK.

Even for those who do live in a stable economy, their audience is predominantly young adults and students. Most young adults are currently facing the reality that they will possibly never own their own home, they're living day-to-day trying to budget.

They've instantly priced-out a large % of their audience.

I confidently predict that diehard fans who can't see anything wrong with this will sign up for $5.99 a month, binge watch for a couple of weeks, realize there's no new spoopy content and cancel.

They'll come back when a full season of Ghost Files has arrived, pay again, binge it and leave.

Steven Lim thinks they're gonna get $5.99 a month, every month, from thousands of subscribers. In reality they're going to get maybe $12 a year, from people signing up to binge watch what they want, then leaving.

This will then decline naturally as attention wanes during the months where there is no spoopy.

This ain't good marketing, y'all

They're going to be posting "trailers and season pilots" on YouTube.

Sure, I bet YouTube is gonna be totes okay with a channel doing nothing but trying to hijack traffic for an external site.

Posting nothing but trailers and season premiers will mean maybe one full video per month during busy seasons. That's not enough to remain relevant for the algorithm.

If 80% of those posts are also just trailers saying "leave YouTube and come here", the channel will be smacked down quicker than a crypto scam using an AI generated Elongated Muskrat.

Their channel was growing steadily, but that was with full content regularly posted. When the schedule drops off, and when most of it is considered spammy by YouTube, it's going to collapse like a flan in a cupboard.

A streaming platform needs a constant flow of new subscribers just to replace the gradual drop-off (maybe ask Rooster Teeth about that). When your global audience at YouTube is gone, where are those new subscribers coming from?

The platform is also an additional overhead. It's going to cost thousands a month to keep the servers going.

This ain't good financial management, y'all

I don't know if they've already spent hundreds of thousands of $s on Lim's "men eat food" gamble, but I suspect they have.

I know they have spent hundreds of thousands of $s on a new season of Ghost Files, flying to the UK to host live events while filming those episodes.

This means they've over-extended their finances just at the moment where they've cratered their opportunities to see a return on investment.

Just that, on its own, is enough to destroy a production company.

They do not need 25 employees any more than I need an editor and proof-reader for this long ass post.

They do not need a production studio in Hollywood any more than I needed an office to write this.

They do not need to spend tens of thousands of $s on glossy graphics that appear on screen for maybe 4 seconds in one episode any more than I needed to add screengrabs to this painfully long essay.

By leaving YouTube they've lost:

Adsense revenue (which might not be much on a per-video basis but adds up with a back catalogue over years of productions)

Sponsorship deals, which allegedly contributes almost 50% of their annual revenue.

Merch sales, which is about to crash if the only people they can promote merch to are already paying per month in their smaller ecosystem.

Patreon. Why would someone pay $5.99 twice, for the same or less content?

And they've abandoned all of this for maybe a few thousand people who will probably end up paying just $12 a year when a new spoopy season arrives for them to binge.

I'm no Will Hunting, but no matter how hard I try to make the numbers work they just don't, and I don't need Robin Williams to tell me it's not my fault.

This ain't nice, y'all

Some of you are feeling like Ned's wife right now, and some of you will have no idea what that's in reference to.

Most of you will hate that I made that reference more than you hated the SNL skit.

I get it.

Maybe the worst part about all of his, from a viewer's perspective, is the dismissive nature of their sign-off.

They didn't mention the Patreon members once, not one single time in the whole video. It's like they consider the Patreon "too YouTube". They're the deformed cousin locked in the attic. They're the relative who wasn't invited to the wedding because they can't afford a Tom Ford suit. They're the colleague who isn't invited to the staff night out because they only work in accounting and no one has anything in common with Janice anyway.

These are diehard fans who were actually paying them extra to support them and enjoy a little bonus behind the scenes, and the boys didn't even consider them worthy of an utterance.

They also finished with "If you don't follow us and pay up it's been real, peace out". I'm paraphrasing, but that's basically what it was.

They spent so much of the video saying how awesome and great it was that the fans and YouTube got them to this point, but they didn't thank their Patreon members, and they ended with a blunt suggestion that if you don't follow them and pay more then you're not a real fan anyway and they don't really need you.

"Thanks for getting us here, sucks to be you, bye now!"

You made them wealthy, you helped them hire 25 people, you helped them increase production value to "TV caliber" even though you didn't ask for that, but your job is done and now you're superfluous. Only the real fans are wanted.

In the words of the great George Carlin - "It's a big club, and you ain't in it".

They're okay losing the vast majority of the people who got them here if a few thousand of those are comfortable enough to be able to pay $60 a year for a YouTube channel.

Can it get worse? Sure!

We've had a weekend to enjoy the constant heat of this bonfire and it's predictably worsened with each hour of silence from the company and its employees.

The fact that they haven't back-tracked, despite almost unanimous agreement that this is badder than the baddest thing that could happen to their company, suggests they're okay with it.

Consensus seems to be that they knew it would be this bad, and they're cool. They predicted 90% of people would scream "Boo to you good sirs! Boo indeed!" and they could still survive on the 10% who don't see a problem here.

The lack of response reinforces the narrative that they're totally fine with discarding almost their entire audience if they can just squeeze the cash they need out of whoever is left.

This ain't fixable, y'all (maybe)

Note: I don't want this to be mean, but it's going to sound a little bitchy no matter how I try to say it.

If they'd brought out the Ukulele on Saturday, or even teased Ukulele's on their socials before putting out a video on Sunday, they probably could have survived this with much hand-wringing and a little groveling.

But now I think they've grilled this Kobe steak for far too long.

They've lost 100K subscribers, and counting. The venom among Patreon members is allegedly worse than the public comments section under the video, which is startling. Dozens of YouTubers are torching them harder than a $100 crème brûlée.

People are scraping their channel content in case it's nuked.

Shane "eat the rich" Madej's sentiments over the last few years look disingenuous, to say the least. To shamelessly steal someone else's comment: "Imagine being all 'eat the rich' right before throwing yourself on the plate". He's silent while his McMansion burns down, at his own hands. "Why not!?" indeed.

Steven "I drive a Tesla" Lim's socials now make him look like a tech-bro try-hard and his use of words like "early adopter" and "soft launch" in the video only compound the belief that this was all his brainchild. He is the CEO, and that comes with responsibility and the associated blame. You can't steer the ship into the Bermuda Triangle and then disappear without looking like the bad guy.

Okay, you can disappear, but that convoluted metaphor is a mystery for someone else to solve.

Ryan "TV caliber" Bergara now sounds like an elitist who thinks YouTube is "too pedestrian" for his big plans, not big enough to meet his artistic vision. You see, he's more James Cameron, while YouTube is more like your student film club. He's grown beyond this pesky platform with billions of daily hits offering exponential growth with almost zero financial risk.

Even if they released a video today admitting they messed up big time it's still going to be hard to get the taste of this Ghost Pepper Warhead out of the collective mouth of their viewers.

This hasn't just burned their shared brand, it's singed their individual reputations among an audience upon which their careers rely.

What they should have done, on Saturday, is release a video (Ukulele or no) confessing their error. They should have announced their new platform will instead just be a bigger and better Patreon, with early access to everything, behind-the-scenes content, extra features, audience interaction etc.

They should have reversed to make clear their YouTube channel will stay the priority, their main source of revenue, but that you could get more on their own platform if you want it.

And, maybe, over time, people will pay for that. If they grow their channel to 6 million subscribers in the next 4 years there will be a couple hundred thousand of them willing and able to pay $5.99 a month for 8 years of shows, 8 years of behind the scenes content, 8 years of community involvement and regular early access to new episodes.

Maybe then they could try out their "privileged guys eat expensive food in expensive places" show and see how it does? Maybe a majority of people won't be living on the cusp of poverty by then and it won't look as tone-deaf as a 13 year old YouTuber trying to cover Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah"? Maybe then they could hire another 50 people and make Bergara's "TV caliber" (I still don't know exactly what that means) game shows and reboots?

The clock has been ticking since they hit that "publish" button on their career ending video, but that clock is about to count down to zero and silence will permeate throughout their previously lively community.

That 1980s basement set needed someone crying in the corner, right?

The problem is, their own platform is not a terrible idea. Really, it's not the worst thing they could do. The badness came in the timing, the switch, the middle finger and the f you. They could have released this as an extra, their own Patreon alternative, waited, developed it over time into something sustainable and established.

They could still try to do that and hope this dark chapter is forgotten.

Maybe I'm wrong? Maybe Lim is a financial genius with more skill than the management of Rooster Teeth and their corporate parent company combined? Maybe this gamble will be wildly successful despite all streaming services down-sizing or just going bankrupt? Maybe they won't be back on YouTube in 3-6 months begging for views after having to lay off 20 of their employees?

I know this... if I were one of those 25 employees blind faith would not be enough to stop me from looking for another job.

I suppose this will, for now, remain... a mystery.

EDIT:

I'm not writing another essay about this, but I'm glad to see they've backtracked and made the right choice to use WatcherTV as any sane creator would - to host early access and exclusive content in addition to their YouTube channel.

Over time, while promoting it in every video, building up that trust and fan base, it can be a secure and long-term financial bonus helping them to expand their business incrementally as finances allow.

Why this wasn't the plan all along is anyone's guess. Gambling everything on this was never the sane decision.

I still think they need to scale back on costs. I still think the food content is not currently a viable source of income while being a serious drain on resources. I still think they need to stop hiring all their friends and they need to hire one person who doesn't have personal relationships with everyone there and can make the tough business decisions.

No one likes firing people, it's ten times worse when it's a friend. But this is a reality of business and just wishing it wasn't so isn't going to make it go away. It would be awesome if we could all run a business where we can hire all our friends and family, never have to rely on any outside funding, make whatever we want, make a great living in one of the most expensive cities in the world and continue to grow.

That's just not the reality.

Their apology was genuine, in my opinion. I just hope they can work out the right financial balance.

[crowleys-ducks]

Balls off the walls theory time, aka, crowleys-ducks needs their morning coffee. A theory about Maggie, under the cut.

Maybe this has been said before, maybe it hasn't. But what if the reason Maggie isn't affected by Aziraphale's miracles is because she is an angel... and a demon. Follow me on this. Maggie tells Nina the record shop used to be in the corner of Aziraphale's bookshop, and she tells Aziraphale, "I've loved this shop since I was a baby." We assume she's talking about the record shop, not the bookshop. But maybe she is talking about the bookshop.

What if Maggie is an angel-demon hybrid from the future who carefully inserted herself exactly where she needed to be to make sure Good Things Happened and Bad Things Didn't? Are you still following me? I'm not sure that's a Good Thing, but let's continue.

Maggie is amazingly calm during the bookshop attack and barely reacts to a demon flicking its long tongue at the glass. Almost like she's seen such before. She tells them, "You don't scare me by making faces. I have brothers." She has brothers? Like demon brothers?

Maggie next says something interesting. She says she's spent her entire life being scared. Of what? Not selling enough records? Not making friends? Nah. Nothing is ever that simple and neither is this theory. What if she is from a future in which her (and her brothers') very existence is something unacceptable, and so she went back in time to make sure it would be?

Maggie is sweet and kind, blonde too, much like our favorite angel. She can be brave, and a bit spicy (flipping off the demons), like our favorite demon. Okay I'm just going to say it.

What if Maggie is a future child of Aziraphale and Crowley? (if you've lasted this long, I commend you. If you're leaving here's a cookie for the road, I completely understand 🍪)

It doesn't make sense does it? It shouldn't make sense and yet. She calls Aziraphale an angel. She's sentimental about bygone things and dresses very vintage. She doesn't notice (or ignores) the demons outside the bookshop. She's wholly unaffected by Aziraphale's attempts to make her forget the ball. She pushes Nina to help her tell Crowley that he and Aziraphale NEED TO TALK. "That's all we needed. It's what you two need as well."

Maybe because Aziraphale and Crowley didn't talk enough, despite finding a way to be together and having (Aziraphale voice) OODLES of children, Something Terrible did happen in that future. But it's Maggie's misunderstanding of things that makes her think she can Make A Difference.

Maybe in the original timeline, The Metatron never offers Aziraphale Gabriel's position, the halo thing was a "oopsie" moment, etc, so he and Crowley do get together. Heaven and hell keep the status quo static and quoey. Crowley's confession is well received, and deeply reciprocated. And there's a cottage and kids and happiness, for a time. But when heaven and hell find out, well, that's an excuse for the Big One. War, betrayal, death. Maggie's kind and those who are sympathetic are hunted by both sides. She's spent her whole life being afraid, but she gets a chance to fix it.

She goes back in time. If she can make sure her parents talk properly early enough then surely they can stop Bad Things from happening. And if she stays there long enough, she can help stop it too. Maggie doesn't expect to fall in love with Nina, and it really couldn't hurt to ask Papa for a little love advice... He always knows what to do. And sure enough, it all works out in her favor, as Crowley and Aziraphale become a part of her love story. They seem to be getting on earlier than she knew they did. But The Metatron is two steps ahead of her.

Let's say The Metatron, can see through space and time, and he sees a future he can not allow to happen. Maggie's future. Maybe God doesn't want it happening either (who knows? She's on a beach somewhere and can't be bothered so we're focusing on The Metatron instead). Angels and demons consorting! Having children! Preposterous! Although that future DOES lead to the war heaven wants, The Metatron can't risk all the hoards of angels and demons who DID follow in Aziraphale and Crowley's direction (as well as Gabriel and Beelzebub's), going their own way, creating their own abominations. It's like an infection he doesn't want spreading. He has a proper idea of how to handle things. Stop it before it ever gets started (bro you're about 6000 years too late but-). The Metatron makes sure to swoop in at the opportune moment and suddenly Crowley's confession falls flat. Aziraphale's pleading is rejected. The Ineffables break up before they ever get together.

This is worse than the world Maggie came from. Because now there's no demon-angel children from anyone and Aziraphale and Crowley have been separated and might possibly be fighting against each other. It wouldn't have happened if Maggie hadn't went to the past.

Maggie doesn't know. She thinks she's started part one of Fixing Things and is peacefully asleep in the record shop, dreaming of a world where her parents and her siblings are in their lush garden once again. Dad spending hours in his little sun hat and glasses tending to his plants. Papa wrapping her in a favorite tartan blanket and reading to her under the shade of a tree they planted together. Her brothers being little shits and chasing her through the woods as they play games until the sun sets. A wonderful world of love and warmth. A world she misses dearly. A world she may never see again.

That's all. I have finished my coffee and I hope I can still show my face in the fandom after this.

[bridgyrose]

Is it bad that I’m imagining Tea Amidst Terrible Trouble is the Ruby Clone Army AU?

I feel like Ruby might actually choose to become someone else at the blacksmith because she believes that the Ruby Clones are just better than her.

(At some point I plan to get that far with this au, but I think you misunderstand if you think the Ruby Clones are better than here. Because, they're not better than her, just trained differently. No, the real problem is how easily they seem to replace her with everything. Which, yeah, if Ruby is that easily replaced, she'd definitely consider choosing to be someone else. That said, since here's a small continuation)

Ruby took a small breath as she stepped off the airship, feeling the cold, Atlas air hit her face. After a few days of resting and helping Pietro upgrade her equipment, she finally felt ready to take a mission with her friends to help Ironwood, and to take her mind off everything she’d learned. Clones of herself being used as weapons against the grimm, an army of huntresses that could be replenished at a moments notice, an army that would be loyal to Ironwood… it was almost as if she was being replaced.

She shook her head and let out her breath as she tried to clear her mind and spoke under her breath. “I dont need to worry about that right now.” 

“Dont need to worry about what, Rubes?” Yang asked 

“N-nothing,” Ruby said nervously as she started to make her way in front of her team. “Just excited for this mission!” She paused and shivered for a moment. “Though its a lot colder than expected.” 

Harriet nodded and started to walk towards the dust mine. “Its cold enough out here that even with aura, the windchill is enough to cut through you. And without aura, well… try not to let your aura break.” 

Ruby nodded and watched as her team made their way forward, following close behind them. Her heart raced with each step as she kept an eye out for any of the Ruby clones that might’ve been following them or sent ahead. It wouldnt have surprised her if Ironwood sent them out to start clearing the mine and let her and her team finish the cleanup. She paused in her step as she tried to take another shaky, deep breath as she tried to clear her mind again. 

Weiss put a gentle hand on Ruby’s shoulder. “Everything okay? Ever since we’ve come to Atlas, you’ve seemed on edge.” 

“I’m fine, really,” Ruby replied through a fake smile as she let out her breath. “There’s… there’s been a lot to take in since coming to Atlas. Ironwood being told the full truth, Penny being alive, the clones of me… it feels like I’m being pushed away and replaced.” 

“None of us would ever replace you.” Blake stopped in her step and flashed a smile to Ruby. “You’re our teammate, irreplaceable as our leader. No matter what, we’ll always follow you.” 

“Yeah, but… what happens when you dont?” Ruby pulled her scythe off her back, unfolding it and gripping the hilt as she looked into the blade at her reflection. She watched as her red cloak turned white, silver eyes flashing into a blinding light before returning back to normal. “What… what if every decision I’ve made is a mistake?” 

“What do you mean?” 

“I-I wanted to go to Haven Academy for answers about who Cinder was and why Beacon had to fall. And since then, we seem to keep getting in deeper and deeper without any clear answer about what we’re really doing. Salem wants me and I still dont know why, she cant be killed and we still dont have a plan to stop her, I… I backed Jaune up with stealing the airship and almost got ourselves killed doing it…” Ruby felt her arms shake for a moment as she remembered watching the cannon start to charge just before she took her shot. “And now we told Ironwood the truth, the same truth that we all had an issue with accepting. How do we know we’re doing the right thing?” 

“We dont,” Yang answered. “All we can do is keep going and see if we can figure things out. Besides, Ironwood thinks he has a plan that’ll work and Uncle Qrow seems to trust him. And maybe having those clones of you will help us.” 

Ruby looked up at Yang, her heart breaking at hearing that. “You… you cant be serious. He made those clones to replace me!” 

“Only if you were dead,” Weiss rebutted. “And since you’re clearly not dead, those clones wont replace you. But that doesnt mean we shouldnt use them to our advantage.” 

“Yeah but-” 

“None of those clones will ever replace you,” Blake said as she started to walk deeper into the mine. “But right now, we need Ironwood’s help, so if that means we’ll need to get used to an army of yous at our side, then we should use that to our advantage.” 

“I-” Ruby held her tongue as she watched her team walk ahead of her, deeper into the mine. For a brief moment, it truly felt like her team didnt need her, even though she knew that wasnt what they had meant. Finally, she let the words out as she followed behind everyone else. “I… just want to be careful about all of this.” 

Ruby started to rush forward to keep up with her teammates, fingers gripping her scythe tightly as she ran down the tunnel. She stopped once she saw the geist in the main chamber, controlling chunks of dust. “Alright team-” 

“We’ve got this!” Harriet yelled out as she joined the rest of the Ace-Ops. 

Ruby slowly lowered her weapon as she watched the Ace-ops work flawlessly to take down the geist, Marrow using his semblance to slow it down, while Clover picked off chunks of dust that Harriet, Elm, and Vine caught. She quickly raised her weapon as she noticed the geist leaving the dust it possessed, making its way to another pile of rocks and dust. With her finger on the trigger, she tracked the grimm as Clover’s hook missed the mask… until a silver light caught her off guard, blinding her for a few seconds until she heard the sound of rock hitting the ground. As her vision cleared, she saw a couple of the clones rush in with their semblances to catch the remaining dust crystals. 

“Got it!” one of them yelled out as they hit the ground. 

Clover smiled and sheathed his weapon. “You both came just in time. And I’m sure you’ll be able to handle the rest of the cleanup, right?” 

“Yes sir!” the clones yelled out in unison, saluting to Clover. 

Ruby tightened her grip on her scythe as she let it fold back up. “My team and I will make sure the perimeter is cleared-” 

“No need to worry about that,” Elm said as she put down one of the dust chunks. “If those two are here, then that means everything around us is clear. You and your team can head back to Atlas to rest. Tomorrow will be the start of a long week.” 

Ruby slowly put her scythe onto her back as she watched the clones pick up some of the scattered dust crystals. Everything she could do, they were capable of. Just as fast as her, able to clear out grimm with ease, even able to use their eyes reliably. She lost focus on the clones as she felt Yang lightly hit her shoulder. 

“We should make it back to the airship before it takes off,” Yang said. “And then we can play a few games before it gets too late.” 

Ruby made a small nod as she looked away from the clones, putting up another fake smile as she held back the pain she felt. “That… that sounds like a… like a great idea.”

[craomy]

The Little Mermaid! Azul Ashengrotto x Yuu (Part 1/3)

Prompt: The story follows a plotline similar to The Little Mermaid. Down in the depths of the Kingdom of Atlantica, Yuu is known as the treasured daughter of the Sea King. Azul has disguised himself as Vance (Like Vanessa in the movie) in order to strike a deal with Prince Elias (Prince Eric) on a traveling ship as a human and Yuu is captivated. When the ship gets caught in a terrible storm, Yuu saves Azul and he’s unable to get her singing voice out of his head but doesn’t know who it is. When Yuu comes to Azul for a contract for her to become a human, he doesn’t realize that she was the one who saved him until after she obtains her legs. Now it’s up to Azul to come up with a plan to stop a romance caused by a misunderstanding.

Author’s Note: This story has a total of around 18k words, so I thought it would be easier to read if I broke it up into three parts. 

Part 1: You’re reading it! :)

Part 2: Here!

Part 3: Here!

            There was a lighthearted atmosphere to the sailing ship. Fireworks burst in the night sky, plentiful cheers, and instruments being played by those full of merry. The liveliness was almost contagious, but not enough to impress Azul who watched the drunk men carry on in their festivities. He had made preparations beforehand, and his disguise would not be easily detected, but it is said that the way the world looks changes depending on one's perspective. The same could also be true of appearances. Instead of his cool light-grey wavy hair, it was a dark brown one, as well as his darker silvery eyes hidden behind a violet hue. Of course, this was a temporary look, at least one that may hide his true identity as the powerful and benevolent Sea Sorcerer. His beauty mark was nowhere to be seen, concealed and absent for the sake of not giving away the signature look. At least he had kept his glasses, though they are now circular framed due to the fashion of the time and that things could be quite blurry at a distance without them.

          �� Floyd and Jade on the other hand are acting as Azul’s bodyguards, ensuring their boss’ safety in case any event were to happen. Oftentimes there are scuffles if a client is upset with the terms of agreements, and having loyal subordinates are quite helpful in attaining more contracts. Either way, Azul is sure to be successful in capturing the perfect opportunity for business. Unlike Azul, Prince Elias, a brash man that was next in line for the throne, is not as serious as Azul about the potential benefits he could reap from their current discussions. His playful foolishness is not something Azul wishes to involve himself with any further than he needs to, but Prince Elias is quite the insistent one.

            “Vance! Get over here you party pooper! You should listen more about how Princess of Glowerhaven and I spent the night together,” Prince Elias lightly slapped the back of Azul’s shoulder while firmly grabbing onto him to bring him closer. A bit alert but slightly annoyed after the surprise, Azul maintained his composure and stood tall, clearing his throat to call attention to himself.

            “Ahem, I understand that you are quite the… woman charmer as you say. However, I have no interest in your external affairs.” Azul attempted to say in a polite yet stern voice, almost in a disgusted manner while carefully picking Prince Elias’ hands off of his shoulder by each finger. He averted his gaze to make eye contact with Jade and Floyd, hoping they’d catch his drift while he keeps up a friendly charade with his potential contractor. The close stench of liquor from the prince had reeked, and once again Azul is quick to maintain his distance.

            The night is young and many of the men on board were partying to their heart's content. The firework show continued to light the night sky and had certainly caught the attention of a young mermaid, the youngest daughter of the Sea King. You see, Yuu is labeled as the rebellious daughter by her father, but in her eyes, she saw it as being curious and adventurous. Life under the sea was amazing and all, but she yearned for the things she didn’t know about above and on the surface. Her father, the Sea King, was very strict with how he dealt with his daughter all for the sake of her own safety. Ever since the Sea Queen was hunted down for her beautiful scales and voice, there were rules that were set in order to keep the merpeople and the humans from mixing like oil and water. This, however, had only further piqued Yuu’s interest. She’s captivated by the foreign illuminations and was quick to show her amazement to her best friend, Grim, who is tasked to stay by her side.

            “Yuu, what are you…” Grim’s head raised above the water trying to understand why Yuu was so distracted and gasped when seeing the unfamiliar large ship in the distance, “Jumpin’ jellyfish! What is going on over there?” the little seal’s jaw dropped. Yuu had never seen anything like it. It was so close, yet for every moment she waited, the boat continued to create its distance. 

            “Well, we’ll just have to find out Grim!” and without hesitation, Yuu swam with her glistening tail that gleamed under the moon to the exciting scene. Climbing aboard the ship from one of the astray ropes, Yuu propped herself and Grim to watch intently from the deck while remaining hidden.

            Yuu’s eyes panned the unfamiliar environment and saw some humans celebrating with each other, whether it was by playing instruments or moving their feet to the music. There was one figure in particular that caught the little mermaid’s eye and it was a human who appeared to be forced to dance with one of the other men. With dark brown hair and violet eyes, the human was quite the gawky dancer who had tried his best to remain serious but to no avail.

            “Hey! Quit this insistence on dancing, Floyd!” Azul ordered in a loud whisper, but the laid-back bodyguard couldn’t help but get a rise out of his boss. 

            “Come on, if you don’t learn how to dance once, you won’t be able to make the most out of those two legs of yours,” Floyd bore a toothy grin, leaving Jade to chuckle on the side due to his brother’s silly antics.

            Yuu couldn’t help but stare at that man for a bit longer than she should. Something about him is different than the other humans, perhaps something is missing in his appearance. The only thing she could think about was how charming the man was, despite not gracefully dancing to the hectic rhythm of the party. “Wow. Would you look at him use his feet, Grim? He’s very handsome, isn’t he?” the girl leaned against the floorboards with a dreamy far-off look, captivated by the sight of the young gentleman. 

            “I don’t know. He looks like he’s too busy getting drunk,” Grim snorted, looking at Prince Elias who is close to tumbling over like a bumbling fool. Yuu scrunched her nose and smiled, and she held onto Grim’s cheeks to bring his attention in the right direction. 

            “No, no, not him. The one with the whatzits on his nose.” Sighing and sinking with her back to the wall, Yuu could only imagine what it would be like if she could join and dance along with the dreamy man. Wishing to see new sights, discover more thingamabobs, and maybe even get closer to finding someone who could understand her and her fascination with this vast world.

            Prince Elias staggered to the side of the boat, startling Yuu and causing her to shy away from the view. Azul followed after, leaning on the railings as he pressed his palm to his chin.

            “Vance… Have you ever thought about being able to meet the right girl? Someone who can really leave a long-lasting impression on you? Someone you can love?” The prince began to slur his words, perhaps a bit tired of sleeping with every maiden in the kingdom given that he’d ask such a question.

            Azul paused for a moment and straightened his posture, adjusting his coat and falling back on a memory that may be close to what was asked. Most of the time he was left in isolation because of his appearance, the mockery of others is what comes first to mind, and even worse, those who only seek him only for the sake of gaining something in return. Even if he wanted something genuine, it may not be possible because of how he kept up his mask from outsiders. It isn’t easy being the oh-so-benevolent Sea Sorcerer when it comes to finding a meaningful relationship.

            “Well, Prince Elias, I have thought about it once or twice but those thoughts have yet to stay afloat when you’ve got a business and corporation to attend to. There’s a tradeoff to everything, and I’m afraid that I bargained for my strong ambition and have to stray away from things that may distract me,” Azul looked out to the current of the waters and saw how his reflection was in disarray in the quick movement of the waves. Who was he kidding? His plans on taking over the kingdom of Atlantica after being ostracized and outcasted for being an octopus are something that still lingers in the back of his mind. This meeting with the humans is just another stepping stone in the grand scheme of events. He needs to remain focused.

            “Ah… Love at first sight? Those are stories told to give children hope. Maybe to even explain why someone may be enticed despite the overlooking real requirements of a connection needing to be mutually beneficial. It’s more complicated than what’s on the outside. Surely even for you, you’d understand that every relationship comes with a price. Even if I do find someone, I’d hope that they’d see me for who I am,” and so Azul began to drown out the sounds around him, thinking about how this was his life’s purpose while hinting at his other possible life beyond being human. To bargain and to exchange. To hold debtors accountable and maybe even have the Seven Seas bow down to him. Yet, even then, love is a commodity that’s hard to obtain.

            Yuu listened to the man’s words carefully and sympathized with him. She wished to give a word or two to cheer him up, but if she were to say anything, she’d expose herself and she’d be a fish out of water. The mermaid had instead begun to pat Grim’s head as she intently took notice of his answer.

            Lightning struck in the distance. A strong gust of wind had gathered and began to cause chaos onboard. Sailors were rushing to get into position to prepare for the hurricane. Azul quickly withdraws from the edge and his eyes darted to Jade and Floyd.

            “Twins! Assist the men with the sails!” he ordered, taking the lead in helping the sailors while Prince Elias is half awake. The men were fighting with the waves, a large one sweeping the deck of the ship with several men defenselessly succumbing to the strength of the body of water. Azul wasn’t one for his brawn, but he had rushed to the wheel of the ship and attempted to steer it in the right direction, feeling as if he was fighting against the winds of the Caspian sea. Yuu saw how he bravely took charge until the currents became too strong and knocked her back into the ocean.

            “Grim! Are you okay?!” she looked around for her precious friend. Amidst the rocky waves, she saw that recognizable ball of fluff pop its head out of the water.

            “I’m okay, but we have to get outta here!” Grim tugged on her tail, but Yuu was too preoccupied with what was happening with the human she had kept an eye on. 

            Lightning struck the sails and was caught ablaze, along with a forceful disturbance to the ground that had caused Azul to lose his footing. The businessman had contemplated whether or not he should risk being caught in his octopus form, but it was too late to decide when the back of his head collided with a heavy broken plank of wood. His glasses were knocked off of his face and his vision began to blur even more as black dots began to dance around his line of sight, losing consciousness as his body plunged into the waters. 

            Yuu gasped and panicked as the ship exploded. Her altruistic nature caused her to move before she could think as she swam to save the fallen man. “Where are you going, Yuu?!” Grim cried out but fell on deaf ears amongst the storm. She dodged and maneuvered around the falling debris, eyes darting around to see any sign of life around. In her peripheral vision, she saw the handsome gentleman grasping onto a floating plank, passed out. Slowly, his grasp began to slip from the board and his body was now consumed and hugged by the empty waters around him. Yuu dove down and grabbed a hold of the man with her arms pulling him up from the chest, losing no time in returning him to the surface.

            Gentle waves crashed onto the shore of the land and returned to their owner, repeatedly and continuously following the same cycle. Azul, disheveled and blacked out, was set on the sand where Yuu had laid him. She held the back of the human’s head and had a hand on his chest, cautiously observing any signs of life. Grim swam closer to the two and was shocked to see the sight.

            “Is he… dead?” Yuu asked as Grim hopped closer to the unconscious human. 

            Grim’s voice wavered with the human’s foot pushed against his ears and shook his head, “I can’t make out a heartbeat…” with a mournful tone.

            “No, look! He’s breathing!” Yuu stared in awe, eyes locked on his resting face. Her hand pushed back the stray strands of hair behind his ear.

            “He’s so beautiful,” she confessed as if it was the ultimate truth. Azul, is handsome, even in disguise. Perhaps this little mermaid could see through him, even if it’s just a little bit, even if they have yet to have a conversation together. She traced her fingers upon his cheek, almost as if she had known him all her life in every scenario.

            “What would I give to live where you are?

            What would I pay to stay here beside you?

            What would I do to see you smiling at me?” 

            Azul shifted slightly, feeling a hand gently placed on top of his chest. This unfamiliar warmth was nothing he’d experienced before. The soft touch of a kind soul, a comforting one at that, had begun to sprout a seedling different from any other within Azul’s chest. There is no panic in his awakening, only serenity, and peace.

            “Where would we walk?

            Where would we run?

            If we could stay all day in the sun?”

            The Sea Sorcerer needed to find this ray of light. Half-awake yet conscious, he had reached a hand out to the tranquil voice, grabbing hold of a smaller hand that rested on his cheek.

            “Just you and me

            And I could be

            Part of your world.”

            The gentleman's eyes fluttered open, seeing a blurry figure of a woman who stared deep into his soul. The melody of her singing had struck a chord within him, a tune that lingered in the passage of his once solemn thoughts.

            “Heyyyy! Where are youuuuu?” Floyd’s disconcerting call had caused the figure in front of Azul to quickly depart to avoid being discovered. The pleasant atmosphere had now died down with the waves crashing onto the shore once again, but this time, as a sign of applause for the performance that it had witnessed.

            Azul stared at his now empty hand, not minding that Jade and Floyd had finally found him washed up on the sand.

            “There you are, Azul. We were worried sick.” Jade gave his signature polite smile while leaning over Azul as he lay on the sand.

            “You don’t look that worried, Jade.” the gentleman slowly sat up, wiping sand off of his clothes despite not actually cleaning himself from such particles. That’s right. He needed to continue conducting his work. Both of the twins stayed by his side as a reminder of that, for they needed someone interesting to follow. The angelic singing had still rung through his ears, echoing the last bit of traces of the person who had saved him. He felt indebted to the voice, feeling as if he had been given temporary shelter and then taken away to return to what was before. Even so, his body felt at ease after the beautiful singing.

            “What a peculiar thing.” Azul was now interested.

            The Octotrio had returned to the depths of the ocean. There has been hot news that the Sea King’s most beloved and youngest daughter failed to show up for her musical debut in the high Atlantica society. As an outcast whose been exiled, this hasn’t been too much of a great concern for Azul. Though, gathering intel and information on how others may be despairing is exactly what he needs in order to give his customers what they wish for. Having returned to his octopus mer-form, Azul had carefully watched his magical crystal with careful eyes, observing the sights that Floyd and Jade are collecting for him. He had initially sent them off to find out more information or possible clues to the owner of the voice who had saved him previously, but now a greater fish to catch was now at his hands.

            Displayed through the looking glass was a sorrowful, susceptible, and vulnerable mermaid. As Azul’s silvery hues examined the little mermaid in his crystal ball, he couldn’t help but notice what a catch this customer will be.

            “So this is Yuu, the daughter of the Sea King? The rumored headstrong and lovesick girl?” he peers at his garden of anemones, the lot of poor unfortunate souls who couldn’t keep up the end of their bargain. He turned back to take another look at Yuu. With the beautiful scales on her tail, it was clear as a shard of sea glass that she was of noble origins. This is proof that even someone of high esteem has their own problems.

            “She would be the loveliest of them all. This is a little bit too easy for me, Floyd, and Jade.” Azul chuckled to himself quietly. Finally, the perfect opportunity to snatch the crown away from the king. The chance he may never get again in his lifetime. The octopus quickly devised a brief plan. Once the little mermaid is bound to him by contract, he’ll take the upper hand and use her as a bargaining chip against the Sea King. How could the king refuse? The safety of his most loved daughter comes first before his crown. Love takes sacrifice.

            At the entrance of Azul’s lair swam an oh-so-familiar mermaid along his loyal eels escorting his catch straight to his plate. Speak of the devil and she shall appear, he thought. She was much prettier in person, as rumors say, and she certainly has his attention. The apprehensive look on her face was evident as she swam above the garden of unfortunate souls.

            “Welcome, Angelfish.” Azul’s voice echoed through the eerie chamber, “Don’t be shy. It’s rude to leave someone waiting.” Climbing out of a large seashell, the octopus made his presence known as his body flowed with his movements. Yuu nervously gulped as she approached the rumored Sea Sorcerer, and Azul took note of her behavior with a chuckle. Oh, how easy it will be to exploit this girl, he thought. The boundless amount of opportunities will only continue to expand if things go according to plan.

            “Now, then, the reason you’re here today is that you’ve fallen in love with a human. He must be a catch if he’s piqued your interest.” Azul absent-mindedly guessed, love being the game he most often participated in pulling the strings. Usually, it’s one who wants to become thinner and another one wanting to win over the girl– and did he help them? Yes, indeed.

            “He’s just so interesting. I really want to learn more about him. There are a lot of things I want to discover up on the surface as well–”

            “Yes, yes. You’ve got yourself an appetite for the unknown. Instead of a wager, how about we make a deal, yes?” Azul interrupted, a bit too excited about taking advantage of the situation.

            “The only way to get what you want is to become human yourself,” the octopus lifted Yuu’s face by the chin with his finger.

            “Can you really do that?” the mermaid gave a look of surprise and pondered with astonishment.

            “Why of course. I’ve been fair with no foul plays. They don’t call me Azul Ashengrotto for nothing, Angelfish. Helping unfortunate merfolk like yourself is simply what I’m called to do,” he proudly claimed, keeping his posture and maintaining steady eye contact with his sincere client. 

            “Some merfolk say that you don’t exactly keep your promises. How can I trust your word?” Yuu asked with some suspicion. He chuckled inwardly.

            “Come on, I know you need a little magic and magic is my specialty du jour,” the cunning man twirled around the little mermaid with his tentacles. Yuu didn’t realize how much larger the Sea Sorcerer appeared until he got closer. A part of her screams that she should be intimidated, but the grief of her grotto being destroyed by her enraged father was stronger to overpower the adrenaline that was commanding her to swim away.

            “Don't just stand there looking sick. Would I kid you? Play a trick? Like I told you, I don't do that anymore, ” Azul began to open his cauldron, causing the jaws of the pot to release, emitting a soft light for both of the merfolk to pay attention to. The Sea Sorcerer continued to keep a poised expression on his princess, sliding a few side eyes to Floyd and Jade to poke some hints of future trickery.

            “Listen to this darling, I will make you a potion that will turn you into a human for three days. Three and only three days,” Azul’s tentacles had gently ushered and pushed Yuu near his potion cauldron. He quickly directed Yuu’s attention to his face with his hand that held a grip on her chin. Seeing her up close, he analyzed her face in his hands, a moment where his intense gaze met her determined eyes.

            “Before the sun sets on the third day, you’ve got to have this human fall in love with you,” he put a hand to his chin, “he’s got to kiss you, but not just any kiss.” The cauldron arose with an image of a heart rotating in place. “It must be a kiss of true love. If he does kiss you before the sun sets on the third day, you’ll remain human permanently,” an illusion of Yuu’s human self freely walking above the pot. “But if he doesn’t, you’ll turn back into a mermaid…” Azul captured the illusion with his hands in a strong grasp. He leaned forward to Yuu and held her wrist by his tentacle, yanking her close to his body, not minding the close proximity because the thrill of securing this deal was much more important than how he was feeling.

            “You’ll belong to me!” he chuckled, giving a mischievous laugh. The thought of having Yuu to be under his control didn’t sound that bad of an idea. He’d be able to sit on the throne and terrorize those who mocked him and maybe keep Yuu by his side. Daughter of the Sea King, it’s a rare commodity.

            Grim opened his mouth to object for his friend, but was quickly silenced by the Leech twins. “Shhh… We don’t want to disturb them, do we, Azarashi-chan?”

            “Have we got ourselves a deal, Angelfish?” Azul inquired, examining the mermaid’s facial features very carefully. How will she react? What will she do? Is she going to beg and plead? It would be a sight to see the Sea King grovel and ask for forgiveness for his daughter’s sake.

            “If I become human… I might have a chance to see that gentleman I saw above shore again,” she softly spoke. Azul raised his eyebrow. Instead of worrying for her family and friends, she’d rather gamble her life on something so unpredictable as luck. What strategy or plan does she have if her plans to swoon the man she wants don’t turn out right? It’s almost too easy for Azul. It’s two fish with one stone.

            “How fascinating. You truly are willing to risk it all for a man you hardly met? Do you even know this man’s name?”

            “Yes, his name is–”

            “On second thought, maybe I don’t want to hear it.” Azul interrupted. The thought of a beautiful mermaid-like her throwing her life away to some guy just doesn’t sit right with him. However, knowing this mystery guy’s name is not necessary, anyways. If things go according to plan, then she won’t even end up with him. “We haven’t discussed the subject of the payment. You can’t exactly get something from nothing, can we? I won’t ask for much. Just a token really, a trifle. You’ll never even miss it,” Azul lifts Yuu’s face once again with his finger.

            “What I want from you is… your voice.”

            Yuu pressed a hand to her throat. Word has gotten around that she hadn’t been at her debut, but to think that she’d have to give up one of the very precious gifts she had. She wasn’t left with many options. Her hopes had been dashed with her father previously and there was no one who could really comprehend why she found beauty in the human world.

            “So I think you ought to take my little bargain. Yes, I think you ought to make my little deal. Sure, it's hard to leave your life, but you could be a charmer’s wife. Why don't you let me take that dream, and make it real?” Azul threw many potions into the pot, causing multiple fumes to arise and explode with its exotic ingredients. He’s never had a better moment like this. After all, he has to put on an impressive show to the sweet princess of what he’s capable of doing.

            “Come on, you poor unfortunate soul. Poor doll! Poor fish! Aren't you glad you brought your problem to a man that you can trust? Won't you let me grant your wish?” Azul’s a very busy person and he hasn’t got all day. It won’t cost much…just Yuu’s voice!

            “You poor unfortunate soul! Poor sweet! Poor dear! Aren't you lucky that I'm ready with a potion and a plan? Aren't you glad you came and asked if I could help you? And I can!”

            A golden scroll had appeared from thin air, the luminosity glowing in an ever-so-taunting way. Yuu couldn’t make much of what was said on the contract but the last few words were written big and bold, “for all of eternity” with an empty signature slot.

            “When a mermaid comes to Ashengrotto…he has just one demand!” the octopus’ eyes widened greatly, and the circumstances were just right. His contributions, her desperate yearning, the strings beginning to attach to Azul’s fingertips, almost feeling Atlantica in the palm of his hands!

            “You poor,” Yuu grabbed the pen.

            “Unfortunate!” Azul grinned, almost madly.

            “Soullllll~!”

            It was already too late. The moment Yuu finished writing her name in elegant cursive, Azul had eagerly clutched the shining scroll and it disappeared without a trace.

            “It’s a deal!” 

            For a moment, Yuu for some strange reason had accepted what may come. She was prepared if she could see that man up on the shore once again. The Sea Sorcerer must know what he’s doing, so it’s going to be okay… right?

            The Sea Sorcerer recollected himself after safely securing the contract. Now everything will go according to his plans. As Azul began to chant the spell, he ushered the little mermaid, to sing for him. It's the final piece that he needs in order to have the upper hand in the deal. Thoughts of possibly having Yuu’s voice replay her soft pleas to the Sea King are sure to be a sight! Everything he’s ever worked for has finally felt like he’s going to get what he deserved… or so he thought.

            The moment Yuu began to sing, a chord was struck within Azul again. For a second, he felt enchanted, and he left his guard down when he heard the girl’s voice. 

            There’s no mistaking it. 

            The voice that he was hearing in front of him belonged to the one that saved him. 

            Azul’s shoulders were no longer tense and his cunning smile had faded to an almost dazed look. Yuu’s voice was extracted by the magic and had been transferred to a nautilus shell that Azul had held in his hand.

            Instead of laughing in victory, Azul had his thoughts flooded with his feelings clashing against his plans. Oh no, he thought to himself. In exchange for Yuu’s voice, her glimmering tail had begun to undergo a transformation into legs. There wasn’t enough time for Azul to think, she was becoming a human too soon!

            “Floyd! Jade! Take Yuu to the surface, quickly!” Azul ordered with a hint of desperation. The twins had been shocked for a moment that they’d be tasked with doing something nice for the girl, but continued to follow instructions while releasing Grim to swim to the girl. The baby seal had coughed and sighed in relief for air, but then regained his strength.

            “You better not be tricking Yuu, you hear me?!” the little seal hollered at Azul, only to regret his words a little bit later once Azul had grabbed Grim with his tentacles and brought him near his pot.

            “It seems I must change my plans. If she was the one, that means you were probably there too,” Azul muttered to himself and bit his nail on his thumb, thinking about how he can have Grim assist Yuu. Assisting Yuu? Why in the Seven Seas am I thinking about doing something out of goodwill…

            Azul’s tentacles were already moving on their own to create another potion for Grim. Yes, I’ll turn him into a cat so that he can guide her, he thought. Grim yelped as his tail also began to transform, forced to swim to the surface for air.

            “What have I done?…” once the room was empty and it was just the Sea Sorcerer, he cursed the Sevens for having the girl who saved him being the one he made a contract with. He held the glowing nautilus shell in his palm, listening to the remnants of Yuu’s singing play back to his ears, just like how it did when he was on shore. Floyd and Jade shortly returned to Azul’s chambers.

            “Azulll, why’dya have to make us take her up there?” Floyd complained, rubbing his arm.

            “It is quite strange. Why the change of heart?” Jade inquired with a hand on his chest.

            Azul turned away from the twins, not quite sure why he ordered that. Should he tell them what happened after the storm? If he doesn’t, then they might not understand where he’s getting at. He’s never been interested in a girl like this before.

            “This was an unfortunate turn of events, and I’m afraid I may have to get involved more than I should.” the octopus alluded, swimming around his cauldron to gather more ingredients.

            “How so? This is no different than the other love contracts you’ve helped with.” Jade commented.

            “This is different Jade.” Azul managed to string his words together, “the human that she fell in love with was…me.”

            …

            There was a moment of silence between the three of them. Floyd couldn’t contain his laughter after hearing that. Not too long after that Jade also started to laugh. Azul, feeling incredibly embarrassed after saying something so preposterous, felt that he need to explain himself.

            “I’m serious! Oh, I’ve greatly miscalculated what I needed to do.” He repeatedly tapped the side of his head, “Ever since she saved me from the shipwreck, I couldn’t get her voice out of my head! Curse this all…” he was conflicted with what he should do. He thought he had everything laid out ready for him, but the thought of Yuu waltzing on land with someone else who isn’t him had upset him even more.

            Jade swam in front of the octopus to take a look at his face, “Azul, what are you talking about?”

            “…Should I just wait for the three days to be over? No– no, she could possibly fall in love with someone else during that time.” Azul started to ramble to himself as he thought about what he should do next.

            “Jade, I think he’s finally lost it.” Floyd nudged their boss, but to no avail, he didn’t move.

            After coming to his senses, Azul managed to explain the whole situation to the twins, about how he was knocked out during the storm, and the voice that saved him was one he was looking for earlier, not realizing or noticing why he had been caring more about this than he should. In the end, Azul started to act alone on his own accord. Despite all of this going against what he believed, he can’t help but think that he needs to take proper responsibility, at least to clear up the misunderstanding. The twins understand that he won’t be at ease if things are left on their own.

            I can’t believe I’m doing this, Azul prepared a potion for him to become human as well.

            “Yes, after all, this is all merely a part of my design. I’ll be going in and about, let all of her time run out, and long before she’s his she will be mine.”

            Slowly emerging from the waters, Azul had fixed his coat and stood tall and confident not too far from Yuu who had managed to cover herself with a torn sail around her body, which hardly even complimented the shape of her figure. Grim yelped, a bit alarmed that Azul would come up to the surface. After all, he is a sketchy businessman known as the infamous Sea Sorcerer.

            “Ah, I forgot,” Azul offered his hand to the helpless Yuu that struggled to stand with her brand-new pair of legs, “I’ll teach you how to walk like a human. This way, you’ll be able to blend in with the people in no time.” He was no different from her when he first learned to gain the ability to walk on two feet. Thankfully the twins weren’t there, or not they wouldn’t shut up about his previous struggles adjusting to his human form. 

            Trembling knees like a newborn fawn, Yuu stumbled forward into Azul’s arms. Instead of getting frustrated, she showed pure adoration for this brand-new experience. It’s obvious that the sheltered princess would take this opportunity and enjoy every moment of it. She looked down at her now-standing feet and then back up at Azul with a proud innocent grin. It’s kind of endearing to see, Azul thought with his business smile on his face. Although they were close in proximity, he quickly set an appropriate distance between their bodies and cleared his throat.

            He held one hand in his and his other on the other side of her waist. “Now then,” Azul gently pulled her forward so she can instinctively use her feet to prevent herself from falling once again, “we’ll begin step by step.” 

            “You got this, Yuu! If I can do it, then you can too!” Grim pranced around in his new form as he ran around, eventually wandering off to somewhere else on the beach.

            Something about her unadulterated excitement for simple things such as walking had been enough to make Azul feel a bit softer than usual. He felt a twinge of guilt, seeing how delighted Yuu was with him in his company already with trust. After a few more moments of walking together, it seemed that Yuu was ready to walk a bit faster. The Sea Sorcerer slowly released the girl from his grasp and the girl appeared more gorgeous to him than before. Her eyes lit up as she took a few steps backward confidently on her own. The man watched with a steady gaze, feeling a sense of pride that she was able to learn so quickly. Yuu beamed, then attempted to spin around in a circle but had gotten too caught up in her elation that she missed a step of her own.

            “Careful!” Azul quickly rushed forward and caught Yuu by the waist, leaning more forward than he should’ve, leaving the awed girl to stare into his silvery eyes for a bit longer than she should’ve. The man gulped, not quite sure how he could play off the situation smoothly without stuttering or skipping a word. The longer he watched her, the more he began to appreciate her presence and be warier of touch.

            “There’s someone coming this way, Yuu!” Grim interrupted the precious moment between Azul and Yuu without a care in the world. He leaped into the arms of Yuu, and purred happily. 

            The sound of approaching footsteps signaled that it was time for Azul to take his leave, slowly releasing the princess from his grasp. That’s right, she’s the princess. The daughter of the Sea King. Things couldn’t possibly work out between us, Azul thought with the insecurity of his incompatible position to court her.

            Despite the numerous amount of times that he rejects his feelings, he has inevitably been drawn in by her.

            “Ahem. Good luck, Yuu. May you find the man you seek of.” How ironic, isn’t it? To purposefully set someone up for failure just to utilize them for their worth. Although these thoughts were on his mind, they didn’t affect the look of excitement that had never left her face as she eagerly waved with one hand goodbye to him. Adjusting the hat on his head, Azul promptly disappeared from her sight.

            Yuu was getting jittery, fixing her hair as much as she can and determined, hoping that the man who turned around the corner was the one she was looking for, but to her disappointment, it was someone else. It was the man that was getting drunk on the boat– Prince Elias was it? The girl wore a smile, either way, not wanting to show her displeasure for this man.

            As for Prince Elias, he gave a low whistle the moment he laid eyes on the princess. His eyes raked her body up and down in one of the most disrespectful ways without blatantly hiding it, but he coughed into his fist and approached her. She was quite the jewel and a maiden that he hadn’t seen before in the kingdom. Something about the way she held herself, the way that she confidently stood tall and had not seemed to have too much of an interest in him. This would be another trophy he’d conquer if he got her to marry him.

            Out of all people that were to show up, why did it have to be this guy?! Azul anxiously watched from afar, hidden from the line of sight of the crowd on the shore. With the time spent on the human lands, he knew exactly what kind of guy Prince Elias was! A womanizer, playboy, and fool who cannot properly recognize the high-value woman standing right in front of him! Oh boy, Azul was gritting his teeth together, as if this whole situation could get any more complicated. He needs to come up with another plan. Although he may benefit from all of this if he stayed out of the equation, he can’t just let Yuu be around him!

            Prince Elias had walked up to Yuu and Grim began to hiss at the man approaching. Perhaps Yuu can find that charming gentleman again if she were to go with the prince to his residence. The prince, on the other hand, was thinking about how his assistant the other day was ushering him to get married. Looking up and down at the girl once more, he started to have ulterior motives of his own.

            “Shipwrecked? Hey, let me take you to my castle and get you cleaned up.” Prince Elias invited, trying to snake a hand around the girl’s waist, but she pushed herself away. The man raised his eyebrow and took this as a challenge. “You can’t talk? Well, that’s alright. I’ll help you and make sure you’re taken care of,” he said as they both walked off in the distance, leaving Azul to his own thoughts.

            The rage started to bubble within him, I don’t want her to be viewed like eye candy to a foul man like Prince Elias, he thought. She should be admired like a piece of art– not like a pile of food in front of a starving man! Men like Prince Elias would immediately lust over her rather than worship her for her worth.

            Azul trusted that Yuu’s devoted friend, Grim, would keep an eye on her. He watched as Prince Elias led the princess to his castle.

            “If you really want things to be done right, then you really have to do it yourself.” Azul was going to make his next move.

            After getting cleaned up and dressed by the maids, Yuu admired everything around her. The warm light shining on everything and through the large windows of the palace was a big change from the cool colors that she saw every day in the waters. Not only there were many people in various clothing, but the gadgets and gizmos were more complex and actually functioning compared to the ones she had under the sea! The Dinglehopper is a personal favorite that she has in her possession (she borrowed it from the dining hall).

            Her own bedroom was illuminated by a candle on her nightstand. She combed through her hair with the Dinglehopper and walked toward where she was supposed to sleep. Grim sat on the nightstand and yawned, “We can brainstorm ideas on finding your dream man tomorrow.” She patted the cat’s head and sat herself down on the bed, and to her surprise, the bed sank under her. What an incredible invention! And a comfortable one, too.

            Yuu sank into the soft mattresses of her own bed, relishing the joy of being on land like she always dreamed of. Grim jumped on the pillow next to her, “This is amazing, who knew being on land could be so much fun?” The princess excitedly nodded her head as she shook his little paws. She couldn’t help but kick her legs with joy against the bed. It was going to be a long day ahead of her tomorrow as she searches for that gentleman she saved. A whole new life awaits her! She can’t be any more grateful to Azul for doing this for her.

            After a while, the energy from Yuu had finally calmed down and she is fast asleep with Grim in her arms. The fluffy grey cat pulled himself free from her grasp and leaped on the nightstand. He smiled at his dear friend, oh how much has happened within this short amount of time. 

            “Good night, Yuu.” And he blew the candle out.

Part 1: You finished reading it! :)

Part 2: Here!

Part 3: Here!

[cinderspots]

The ladies with a un-bothered germaphobe s/o -- like if something dramatic where to happen the s/o is all like "um Chile... anyways-" but if someone touches them without clean hands or gloves they just loose their shit-

Mood. Also, rip lmao MMs is so much longer and I got a teensy bit off-topic

Hope you enjoy ❤

Tag List: @minitrescu @ultimatebottom69 @imsososolesbian @luni-draws-crap @fatherse7en

Included: Mother Miranda, Mia Winters, Donna Beneviento, Alcina Dimitrescu, Bela Dimitrescu, Cassandra Dimitrescu, Daniela Dimitrescu, Alex Wesker

Mother Miranda

There's a whole thing where you kinda just vibe over hating people being unclean about their lives or whatever

But anyways

You and Miranda get along pretty well once you get to a point where you two talk and not vaguely feel threatened by the priestess

So Miranda kinda just goes by believing that youre indifferent (bc I mean so far-) and it continues like that until one day

One terrible day

A very gross lycan decides that YOU are its best friend, idk why it doesn't want you dead don't ask me hard questions

And he follows you around like a puppy at first and youre like "ok weird" until it escalates to a hug

.

Uh oh

You lose your mind, Miranda assumes danger and kills it making it WORSE as now it's gotten all over you and bestie youre having a bad time

:(

Anyways Miranda is very confused ngl

Mia Winters

You shake hands and she immediately notes the gloves and the way you use a disinfectant like a weapon

Sprayed some mf in the face was lowkey funny

She respects it and doesn't push you, besides I'd like to think that after the fucking debacle of Lousiana and the RAW meat she had to eat

Mia is a little testy about germs too, so she's got you

If someone ever has the audacity to skin-to-skin contact you not only will you be almost crying, they WILL be crying thanks to your great gf the badass mold queen Mia

Overall she's got your back

Donna Beneviento

Takes the avoidance of touch personally at first which leads to a whole series of rom-com levels of misunderstandings

Once it's explained she gets it

Angie doesn't and has to be put on a leash but it's fine

:)

Donna is extra careful which is ridiculous bc she's barely around other people so she's forcing herself to giant her own damn house

Youre mostly like "girl I'm not allergic to the air you breath"

If someone sets you off they're dead no questions

Doesn't matter if it was an accident they upset you

🔪🔪🥄

Take the spoon as you will

Alcina Dimitrescu

Ngl she's not understanding at all when you first meet

Sure once youre like lovers n stuff she's like "back off use your hand sanitizer" (idk how germaphobes live sorry)

But before she's downright disrespectful

Same as Donna, someone touched you skin to skin:)))) what? No, she's fine, the claws just needed some air :))) shell be back in a min don't worry :)))

Bela Dimitrescu

Takes it at face value and sees it as something she could like

You don't like germs which makes you one of the cleaner maids around which makes you an asset to being fucking ridiculous about cleaning rooms

You'd have to supervise for it to get done but Bela likes the mildly irrational idea of it

That's...not quite how it works all the time but she's stronger faster and drinks more human blood than you

You don't tell her that

Eventually she just sort of buzzes around you and hisses at Dani to stay away bc homegirl cannot keep things together

Unsurprisingly Dani escapes Bela's sight and lunges for you in a non-murdery way and makes contact

Game. Over.

You scream bloody murder and go into a panic attack while Dani hisses at the loudness and doesn't understand a thing

Dani briefly has no hand at dinner and everyone sort of pretends like they don't see

Cassandra Dimitrescu

Just like her mother, fucking horrible about it on purpose before she grows fond of you

THEN she gets livid at the idea of someone messing with you

Accidentally sets you off mindlessly and freaks out when you freak out making it so much worse

I think it would take a lot of time to get her to not automatically do something to set you off so idk about your relationship life span

Daniela Dimitrescu

This my bestie is a commitment

You either last like a week or for life

Because she is uh VERY into skin to skin I am living in your organs kind of thing

Daniela doesn't MEAN to set you off. Kinda does it often because she can't help herself

If you commit anyways (very unhealthy of you bestie) then after time she's the most respectful fly woman you'll ever date

And the only but that's not the point

The point is she gets angry when others set you off and everyone kinda pretends like she isn't a serial offender

And we get personality growth as she learns some self control after trial and error

Alex Wesker

She recognizes it and shockingly assists you and respects it the quickest out of them all

Like genuine shock

I'd think it'd be a game of chance working with her though, so many new people coming in and NOT knowing you don't like to be touched

She appreciates your aloofness but takes it harshly when youre touched and pretty much takes that as an instakill

:/

[jaymesdoodles]

As much as I really dislike Willy. It makes sense if he would be a veteran. Especially with the way he acted and everything. Especially about masculinity and everything. It also makes sense if he was also a victim of abuse too. Because people don't just. Randomly do that. Abuse doesn't just come out of nowhere.

That's literally what the story is about. That's literally why we've gotten such a human side of everything with all of these characters. They are human. They are victims. Intergenerational trauma is a very real thing. Evil doesn't come from nothing. That's WHY the Doodler is sympathetic. Because it's a story about how those evils come to be. That so much of hate comes for ignorance and misunderstandings.

This is why Anthony always tells us that everything Willy is doing comes from fear. When we look into the motivations, it's always some he's terrified of. Because that is the source of hate. This is why Daddy/creator magic is fear and love and not hate and love. Because Willy, The Doodler and everything other villain aren't just doing this out of hate. But fear. Whatever that fear is. It's scares the shit out of them. And it's very real to them.

I think what is happening to the forgotten realms is a really good example of this. Obviously when dood was still above the world it was heavily influencing everyone, but I don't think that was everything. The people are doing everything down there not just from the corruption, but out of fear and survival. They are doing all these terrible things because they need to live and they are scared. And it makes them fearful of others. It makes them invested with hate.

But all of this is human. Even if people are aware of their terrible actions and continue to do terrible things. I think it's important in this story to understand that every villain has been incredibly human. Because even humans can be terrible and evil. Ordinary evils happen more than we might understand.

I think it's why it's important that we knew the S1 Dads. We know them. We understand what they have been through. We understand what has been unleashed because of them. We understand the mistakes they left for their kids to clean up, and then now their grandkids are cleaning up.

We know them because it makes us understand the kiddads. We can look at them through a sympathetic lens. All of them. And understand why didn't just randomly turn out this way.

You traumaize your kids whether you want to or not. I think even in the best relationships in the world. That there are ways you traumatized your children. No matter how gentle it way or how many books you read or if you went to therapy. You will fuck up. That is just the reality of life. But it's not something that means that it's a failure.

We know the kiddads are traumatized. We know that their parents tried their best. We know that the kiddads after everything they went through tired wjat they could and Still fucked up. But these relationships aren't damaged forever. We know this. We know that Grant loves his dad despite awaking something in him and probably scarring him forever. We know that Ron probably fucked up thousands of times, but Terry Jr loves him so much. We have an example of a parent that fucked up more with Glenn, but we know that he cares deeply about Nicky despite what happened. We know Nicky loves his dad even if it will never be the same. Even with Jodie we know that there has been mistakes, but he's tried a lot with son. We know that sometimes it's as good as it gets. With Henry we don't know everything that happened. We don't know why the twins stopped talking to him. But everything we saw and some of the flashbacks we knew that he'd do anything for his boys and the twins love their dad, and their is no denying that.

These relationships are complex. Probably the most complex and sibling relationships following. These traumas don't just happen. These are things that build up over time. We see that with the doodler. This story is about intergenerational trauma. The doodler is literally a representation of all the emotions that come with childhood and adulthood of being a parent and being someone's kid. That's what the story is about. That's why we literally have this story in the point of view of the dads and the teens. Because that's what it's all about. How family can be our own villains, but also our heros. They every part of the story. The middle, the end and the beginning.

[thollandx]

Misunderstanding

Benedict Bridgerton x Reader

Angst to Fluff

My eyes followed the dancing couples at Lady Danbury's ball. Secretly I wished that I would be one of those couples and dance with Benedict all night long.

But he was unfortunately not present today, his little brother Colin told me earlier that he would not come. Benedict was at the university today and therefore could not appear. But he sent me a message.

Amused, I read the note over and over again.

"My dearest, it hurts my heart that I cannot be by your side at the ball tonight. But I beg you to leave your dance card blank. All the dances are only for me and here with I reserve them. I promise you that we will dance all these dances together. I carry you in my heart tonight and forever. With love Benedict Bridgerton"

Happy that he was still thinking of me despite his studies, I smiled and continued to watch the couples.

"Ah, look who we have here...All alone like this....Where is Mr. Bridgerton?",

Confused, I turned slightly to the side and caught sight of Cressida Cowper and her mother.

Both looked at me spitefully as they were.

I knew they were jealous of my connection with Benedict.

"Good evening, Mrs. Cowper and Cressida. An extremely beautiful ball isn't it?", I asked them both, smiling.

"Oh it is indeed my dear. But why aren't you dancing? Where is your faithful fiancé Mr. Bridgerton?", Mrs. Cowper asked me curiously.

"Benedict is at the university studying for his degree. He therefore has no time tonight and is indisposed," I explained to her and saw Cressida laughing in the corner of my eye.

Confused, I looked at her.

"Then what is there to laugh about?", I asked her therefore.

"Oh I get what Mr. Bridgerton is learning so exactly," she expressed bluntly.

Frowning she didn't look at me and I didn't understand what she was trying to say.

"Oh dear, best we tell you before it gets too late and you are standing at the altar with Mr. Bridgerton," now Cressida's mother spoke.

These words now confused me even more and I looked at her questioningly.

"From my spouse, his nephew is also studying at the same university as Mr. Bridgerton and he told me some things about her fiancé. Your fiancé is studying there not only the arts but also something else...He is studying there the charms of special women and not just once my dear," Mrs. Cowper explained to me, grinning nastily along with her daughter.

No...Benedict would never do such a thing. They both say that just to hurt me and make me feel insecure!

With a smile I said goodbye and then quickly went to the balcony in the mansion.

I desperately needed fresh air and I needed it now!

Unsettled, I leaned against a wall in the balcony and looked out into the night. My mind was wandering around Benedict and even though I didn't want to believe it, I kept thinking about what the Cowpers had told me.

It just couldn't be true. My Benedict would never do something like that to me. He only ever promised to love me. I was going to tie the knot with him....

Sad and insecure I began to cry. Alone for imagination hurt me incredibly.

The idea that Benedict held another woman in his arms and loved her.

No...no...I was not allowed to believe the stupid gossip!

It was Benedict!

My Benedict!

The Benedict who promised me eternal love.

Sadly, I lay in bed that night, constantly trying to push the negative thoughts aside, but it just didn't work.

My heart ached terribly and the tears found their way out of my eyes.

I knew that Benedict was very popular with the women and I was not such a beautiful woman...I was not a diamond.

Even though I didn't want to admit it to myself, my mind realized that maybe it was all true what they had told me.

Why should Benedict love me? I was not beautiful and had no special talents. Nor was I worthy of the name Bridgerton. I'm sure I bored him and he wanted to break up with me anyway. I'm sure he just didn't want to hurt me and kept it from me....

With tears and a broken heart, I fell asleep in sorrow.

The next day, I was really tired from the sadness, I went down to the hall and caught sight of Benedict talking to my father. At the sight of him, I bit my lower lip and tried not to burst into tears again.

How could I have let this man go? I really loved him, but it wasn't me he loved....

Heartbroken, I walked up to them and Benedict noticed me first. He smiled at me and my father said goodbye when he saw me.

Benedict hugged me when my father left the hall, but I could not return the hug.

I kept wondering if there was another woman in his arms and now he was hugging me.

"Stop it!", I suddenly shouted and quickly moved away from Benedict.

My fiancé looked at me confused and wanted to take a step towards me, but I raised my hand, making it clear to him not to come closer.

"What's the matter, dear? Is it because I didn't go to the ball yesterday?", Benedict asked me confused.

"Why...", I asked him, my voice trembling.

"Why, what? Dearest, what's wrong?",

"Why am I not good enough for you? Why do you have mistresses? What's wrong with me? Am I too ugly for you?", I asked him and cried.

My whole body began to shake and Benedict immediately pulled me into his arms.

"Who told you such crap? I would never cheat on you! My heart and soul love only you and belong only to you. No other woman will ever be as special to ever take your place in my heart. You are my true love and I only count the days when I can finally call you my wife. Please believe me and don't leave me! I could not live without you! We belong together my darling. I don't know who told you that and I don't want to know, but I want you to know that there are no other women! There is only you and me! Only the two of us! Forever!",

Benedict looked me in the eyes full of sincerity and love and only now I understood what I had done. I had doubted our love! How stupid I was!

I really believed that he would cheat on me and only because of the stupid talk of the cowpers!

"I am so stupid! I'm sorry that I doubted your love and insinuated that. Please forgive me...". I whispered and put my head on his chest. I was ashamed to look at him.

"You don't have to apologize and also you are not stupid. You were just told something to hurt you. But I will not let this happen. I made you a promise that I would always make you happy and we'll start with that right now. Would you give me this dance?", Benedict said and gently moved away from me.

My fiancé smiled at me and held out his hand.

"I told you that I would catch up on all the dances from yesterday," he explained to me, winking.

I started to laugh unintentionally but took his hand.

Benedict pulled me close to him and I knew then that I would never doubt him.

He would make me infinitely happy.

He was the love of my life.

[p3chris]

Thoughts on the "Bullet-in-Butt Date"

Just a long post on why I think the "Bullet in Butt Date" might be problematic to animate.

To our collective dismay, I think this extra mission is unlikely to get animated and that might be why we got "Mama becomes the wind" as consolation.

Not to play the devil's advocate, but I do see some issues with this side chapter that might have caused objections to its animation.

For one, and I think this might probably be one of the major problems, is that our four to six year old Anya concocts and detonates a bomb here, in a restaurant pantry:

There are so many potential issues with this: it sends out a horrible public message, people are shown doing ignorant things that could get themselves or others killed or injured, concerned authorities might worry that kids could potentially emulate this, it is also terribly unrealistic for a host of reasons and raises too many questions beyond the suspension of disbelief.

Admittedly, that was also my thorn with this side chapter. Like I mentioned above, it is strikingly unrealistic. Don't get me wrong. I actually did love this chapter - for the initial family interaction, the focused twiyor interaction and Twilight's cute desperate attempts to impress Yor. Anya tailing her parents was adorable and so was Franky getting his fix of Twilight embarrassing himself.

I took Anya's intervention with extra brakes on my inner skeptic. Anya is very young and not particularly academically inclined. While she can read thoughts, she is still prone to misunderstanding things due to her lack of general knowledge.

It simply seemed too much of a stretch that she is able to get the slip multiple times on Franky with him none the wiser to her shenanigans, follow the Red Circus member's thoughts, gather the correct proportions of household/industrial chemicals and moderate them in the amounts needed to construct a non-lethal makeshift bomb, and not hurt herself in the process despite her lack of fine motor skills, knowledge and protective equipment. Bear in mind that at this stage she is shown to still somewhat struggle with math and fractions since she is focusing her efforts on copying off her classmates.

Then there's the Red Circus dude who is able to just appropriate a pufferfish, a fish with a dangerous toxin which requires handling by a trained expert for an expensive and rare dish, and do with it as he liked. He is also able to administer life-threatening amounts into Yor's martini and get a colleague to serve it. Imagine what would happen if it gets out that that this high-class restaurant is so lax about the security and use of its ingredients. There's also Yor who registers a strange drink and just drinks it with no apprehension or hesitation, and doesn't question why the restaurant served her a drink that managed to completely dull her pain (and that would kill people who are not her). That doesn't sound, logically, like how a trained poison user would behave. But that does say some not so flattering things about her and why Anya rates her lowly for life skills.

Lastly, Anya made a mess of the pantry and the corridor, and no one, absolutely no one in this high-class busy kitchen even noticed this young child and the hazardous and wasteful mess she made, which could also have injured others besides her intended target. The restaurant continued operating even after their pantry exploded and one of their waiters was hurt. Like I said, so many issues that test the suspension of disbelief.

Then there is also the less than sensitive treatment of the Red Circus dude's trauma. To find the people you care greatly about brutally killed is traumatising and to encounter the person responsible even more so. However, here his actions and motives are simply played off as a joke and action sequence for Anya.

Not only was the whole retaliation twist unrealistic, but it also goes against how Anya has been otherwise consistently shown to contribute to their parents' mission and wellbeing. The running gag is that things often don't go exactly as she planned, but they work out in the end.

Anya's assistance is usually not as sophisticated or grand as her constructing a bomb and threatening an adult criminal so effectively he thinks she is a child assassin. What is cool about her is that she tries to find the best use of her current abilities and her environment.

Also, her limitations are usually realistic. Despite being a telepath and a resourceful and independent child, she has a short attention span and is easily distracted. She has a small body and isn't capable of great strength or reach (with that said, she is already a lot of stronger than one would expect of her age and build, something I would like to explore further at a later time). She lacks both general knowledge and specialist knowledge and her mind is at an egocentric stage of development so there are still many things she struggles to or simply does not process. She sometimes misunderstands the situation and often finds herself out of her depth. But that's okay. She is a child. Not a child operative, a weapon, or a superhero.

Honestly, this chapter was lovely enough even without this dramatic twist, since the series itself is also about the Forgers finding themselves through the little moments. Notice how subsequent side missions seem to remain focused on the mundane and simpler moments - Franky's mission to find love, Anya playing with Penguinman and Bond, plus one of the latest chapters involving injured Yor and Yuri being competitive with Loid.

What I really loved about this side mission was how fixated Loid was about making Yor happy and some of the lovelier twiyor moments in the manga.

It'd be a real shame if this doesn't get animated.

[lorellaishc]

Stormy Reconciliation

(( DWC February 2024 Day 5, Notorious/Altruistic, CW: non-pg13 language, @daily-writing-challenge ))

There were many ruined towers and structures throughout the Azure Span, but on this particular night a light shone from within. Seven primalists huddled around the fire, seeking relief from the cold winds that howled just outside. Their leader, by virtue of being the only one to have any idea what to do, looked at his fellows. Two dwarves, a draenei, and three elves, all so small compared to his tauren form. He'd sat himself closest to the entrance in case the skin they'd hung over it failed, to spare them the worst of the cold, even as he lamented that none of them were fire adepts. Not that many of them had survived the utter defeat of Amirdrassil.

"What are we supposed t' do now?" one of the dwarves asked, idly prodding the fire with his skinning knife. "We're scattered and routed, the incarnates have abandoned us, and we're as good as dead if the dragons catch us."

One of the elves, a chubby sin'dorei whose cheerful smile the tauren dearly missed seeing, sighed. "It's not the first time I joined a movement that fell apart. If we can get back to the mainland, we can disappear into the crowds, find our way into some sort of life, keep the hope alive."

"Does anyone know how to build a raft? Maybe we could cross the sea to Lordaeron, or Northrend?" the draenei asked, eyes glowing in the gloom. The silence that followed answered her question.

"Even with our shared power over the waters," the tauren rumbled, "the seas around the isles are treacherous indeed. We'd be as dead as if we'd been caught by the dragons."

"This is such bullshit!" the other dwarf shouted, her voice echoing off the stones of the tower. "We gave up everything to join the primalists, to fix the world, and now we're just sitting here waiting to die! It makes me want to-"

Her rage was cut off by a sudden burst of freezing air that knocked the skin from the doorway, and nearly bowled over the tauren. He rose on his hooves, squaring himself between the doorway and his charges. If nothing else, he would try to buy them time to run from the figure who now stood before him, a manifestation of deepest cold, her eyes glowing with her terrible power.

Vyranoth.

The Incarnate of Water and Frost sized the primalists up, making them feel like hogs in the presence of a butcher. Their fire was snuffed by the aura of sheer cold that surrounded her as she stepped slowly into the chamber, and the chill began to pierce to the bones. The draenei's knees buckled as she fell prostrate to the ground. "Honored Incarnate, please forgive our failure! We gave our all, but it wasn't enough to stop the titan's puppets! Please, show mercy on your loyal servants!" she cried, forehead touching the ground. The others followed her lead, leaving only the tauren standing. Vyranoth eyed them all, then locked her gaze with him.

The tauren held his ground. "They refuse to believe it, but I don't. You have joined with the Aspects. You have abandoned the cause, Aspect of Storms." he all but spat her new title.

Vyranoth narrowed her eyes. "The cause was corrupted by the rage of my brothers. My ideals, our ideals, have not changed. Only the methods by which we shall achieve them."

"Then make it quick. We have suffered enough in this wretched land." he shot back, ignoring the frightened gasps of his followers.

Vyranoth raised an icy brow. "You misunderstand, mortal. I am not here to kill you."

"Then you would see us in chains, to impress your new fellows? I would rather die tha-" the tauren's proclamation was cut off by a blast of cold air that flowed into his lungs, staggering him.

"That is ENOUGH, primalist." she shouted, before closing her eyes and exhaling, releasing her icy grip on his breath. "I am not here to harm you. I am here to help you. You all joined my sister, joined our cause, to protect this world from the influence of the titans. I would have you continue your work anew, as my loyal aides."

"… what?"

"The aspects are no longer empowered by the titans, mortal. It is Azeroth itself whose power flows through them.. through me. We now work together to ensure the safety of this world from all who threaten it. There is much work to do, and I would offer you a place in my service to do it."

Vyranoth stepped forward, keeping her gaze locked on the tauren's. "I remember you, Ulrok. I remember the passion in your eyes as you swore yourself to us in the wake of Raszageth's fall. I would prefer not to lose such a valuable ally as you, and those who you have taken into your care."

Ulrok snorted. "Do we have much of a choice?"

"There is always a choice," Vyranoth replied, inclining her head. "If you wish to return to the lands of your origin, I will see you reach them safely. Though I cannot speak to the welcome you might receive when you get there. I have pledged so to all who once served us. But I would rather seek to regain your trust, your loyalty. I will need many eyes and many hands to hold the aspects to their grand declarations." Vyranoth held out her hand, mist flowing off it, to Ulrok.

He did not move at first, studying her face. It was then that her expression softened, ever so slightly. "Please," she said. He was stunned to hear it from her, and thus the first hand to take hers was the small blue one of the draenei who'd risen to her hooves.

"I will join you, Lady Vyranoth. Thank you for this chance to redeem myself," she said, her smile genuine as the tears of relief on her face.

Ulrok sighed, and reached his hand out as well. "Very well, Aspect. We've come this far, after all."

"And we're with you, big bull!" the dwarven man said behind him, sentiment echoed by the others as they rose.

"Um, Lady Vyranoth, now that that's done, could you possibly lead us somewhere warm, that maybe has some food?" the draenei asked, timidly.

Vyranoth looked down at the woman, and for a moment, the primalists might have thought they saw the barest twitch of her lip into a smile. "Very well. You are little use to the cause frozen and starved after all. Come." she said, turning and exiting the tower, before recovering her full draconic form, stretching an icy wing to allow them to climb on, and fly towards a new tomorrow.

[mdhwrites]

Unlike what fans say,Luz is a really bad main protagonist in my opinion.I hate her.

I will continue to say that Luz is a plenty fine enough protagonist for a season and a half. She isn't anything special and the theoretical quirks of her character are rarely shown (her past bullying in the form of social anxiety, struggling to make friends, etc. like that have TWO moments in a SEASON AND A HALF. And no, I don't count her introduction due to what she's doing in that montage.) She is plenty likable though, enough of a rapscallion to get into trouble and her heart ends up in the right place by the end of most episodes. She INCREDIBLY generic for her genre but being generic is not the same as being bad or boring. The same protagonist gets used over and over again for isekais for a reason. Their lack of arc or real, hardline character motives allow for easier exploration of the world and of the other characters, allowing the other world they end up in to be more the main character than them.

There's a reason why I've called her a protagonist of all time.

But I do want to say that the show REALLY feels like it feels the need to justify teenage shenanigans and avoid making Luz look like a bad person. A lot of S1 episodes, even the ones explicitly about Luz needing to learn a lesson, barely make her in the wrong. She's wrong in the second episode because someone's lying to her. Two different episodes have her being peer pressured into doing something for Gus and Willow that causes problems. She isn't willing to instigate problems between her and Amity besides Adventure in the Elements and Teenage Abomination. The latter isn't even portrayed as her being wrong but her putting a bully in their place while happening to also get access to the witch school she wants.

But if you've been following this blog for a while, you know I consider Luz eventually to be just a bad person and that Yesterday's Lie is the turning point for it. That's because unlike almost ANY other show like it, TOH doesn't understand the difference between shenanigans and genuinely terrible actions.

Wanting to make your friends happy by using the fact that you're home alone? Shenanigans. Ignoring your significant other's direct pain in front of you for your own selfish needs? Bad. Borrowing Owlbert so you and your friends can see the game after you made them miss it? Shenanigans and trying to fix a mistake. CONSTANTLY LYING ABOUT EVERYTHING!? Bad and not fun for the audience.

That's the thing that makes Anne genuinely enjoyable to watch. You can tell she is commonly a good person but, well... We all have days when we don't want to work. We are all capable of having preconceptions of others. Playing around and breaking things is a part of youth. And she is CONSTANTLY learning from all of this stuff that in the end doesn't really hurt anyone, except herself sometimes frankly, and she always makes it right.

This final part is REALLY what condemns Luz eventually. The show starts bending backwards to justify her doing terrible things to other people, like lying to her friends about helping them save the Isles when she has no intention to go with them. And she's not learning from these things. She LITERALLY never has an episode where it ends with "You're right. I'm going to stop lying because that hurts people" despite it being such a large part of her character for the last half of the show. Instead, "All I wanted was to be understood" is the only part of her arc that is resolved and that had NOTHING to do with why she was suddenly a liar and hating herself because the show refused to have ANYONE treat her poorly for who she was.

Fucking Sprig and Anne's episode about being roommates does more for the characters genuinely chafing against each other and having to understand their differences than... Pretty much all of TOH with Luz? Like early Eda gives Luz shit but it never goes anywhere. The only time it does is when Eda says Luz is weak which isn't misunderstanding Luz, it's worrying about her in S2 because it's an EVIL EMPEROR they're again and in S1 it's just a reasonable assumption of her capabilities because she isn't trained, she barely has magic and she hasn't been shown particularly brave (though also not unreasonably a coward which is a weakness of that part of Grom).

It kind of frankly leads to Luz being more interesting conceptually than she ever is in execution. And for a kid's show protagonist, she really drops the ball because she so rarely needs to properly learn something, or does it in a way that will keep kids engaged, that what are kids getting from her? I have an eight year old nephew and while he did see the whole show, apparently his mom tells me that he found it boring for much of S2 and kept wondering why people were friends with Luz because she was mean and everyone seemed sad around her.

And that's the target audience in theory. That... To me that says Luz failed as a protagonist maybe more than the rest of the words I've dedicated to this. (Side note: He LOVED Amphibia and was deeply invested in Anne and Sasha. Also, my sister says that she could tell his behavior got BETTER after watching Amphibia, even if it maybe didn't always stick for good. So.... Yeah...)

==========

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead, If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

[best-underrated-anime]

Best Underrated Anime Group J Round 1: #J2 vs #J7

#J2: Two girls wander the post-apocalyptic world.

Amid the desolate remains of a once-thriving city, only the rumbling of a motorbike breaks the cold winter silence. Its riders, Chito and Yuuri, are the last survivors in the war-torn city. Scavenging old military sites for food and parts, the two girls explore the wastelands and speculate about the old world to pass the time. Chito and Yuuri each occasionally struggle with the looming solitude, but when they have each other, sharing the weight of being two of the last humans becomes a bit more bearable. Between Yuuri’s clumsy excitement and Chito’s calm composure, their dark days get a little brighter with shooting practice, new books, and snowball fights on the frozen battlefield.

#J7: Lecherous young man gets engaged to an alien princess

When aliens known as the Oni threaten to invade the Earth, they promise to leave under one condition—a randomly-chosen human must win a one-on-one game of tag against Lum, the beautiful daughter of the Oni leader. The “lucky” person selected happens to be the lustful and unlucky high-schooler Ataru Moroboshi. Given 10 days to attempt to grab Lum’s horns, Ataru realizes how impossible the challenge is as he is faced with Lum’s extraterrestrial powers.

Motivated by a promise of marriage from his childhood friend Shinobu Miyake, Ataru manages to catch Lum off guard. He mistakenly grabs hold of her bikini top first, but he eventually achieves his true goal. Although the game is over, Lum misunderstands that she is the one whom Ataru wants to marry, and she decides to move in with him. The poor student constantly tries to shake off the clingy Lum while doing his best to reconcile with his desired fiancée. After Ataru's heroic feat results in such a disastrous outcome, it is questionable whether luck will ever be on his side.

Titles, propagandas, trailers, and poll under the cut!

#J2: Girls’ Last Tour (Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou)

Propaganda:

Above everything else, this is a show about how human life and curiosity will continue to exist even in terrible circumstances. The two main characters are super charming, so following them around is fun, but even beyond that it’s just a gorgeous show. The scenery is often awe-inspiring and beautiful, as is the soundtrack. Despite the show taking place after the end of the world, it can be surprisingly uplifting as the girls (and the audience!) find wonder and joy in the world around them. Definitely a show more people should watch!

Trigger Warnings: There are some flashbacks that depict the war that ended the world, but they are not graphic. Some blood is shown, but not much else. Main characters own guns, though they don’t use them on other people.

#J7: Urusei Yatsura (2022)

Propaganda:

This anime is actually a reboot; the original came out in the 80s. It honestly does the manga justice compared to the 80s anime. I absolutely love the animation, it really does stick to Rumiko Takahashi’s art style. Though the pacing is a bit different, overall it stays true to its manga counterpart. (It’s honestly too bad the series isn’t very popular in the west, it’s a great comedy/harem type show. And the thing is, it’s not your traditional harem where “the basic guy gets all the girls” which makes the show so much more enjoyable.) Everything about this show really captures the essence of the series. It’s able to be funny while still having its more serious moments. I just really love Urusei Yatsura, it’s so good.

Trigger Warnings: The art style is very colorful and could cause eyestrain

If you’re reblogging and adding your own propaganda, please tag me @best-underrated-anime so that I’ll be sure to see it.

[stacywaters]

Written in the Pages (RM) CH8

"That's a terrible idea, Namjoon" Jin snarks.

"I thought a serenade sounded sweet.." Hoseok said.

"He's talked to her like,, twice??? And your plan is to follow her home? Bad idea."

"Yeah, Jin's right." Yoongi adds.

Jimin pipes up, "What if you wrote her a card?"

I think for a moment, "Isn't that too... obvious?"

"What's wrong with obvious?" He asks, "It can't be worse than stalking her and singing her four lines in the middle of her house, can it?"

I sigh, "what would I even write in a card?"

"Something like Oh Y/N~ I'm so in love with you! Every night when I go to bed I dream of kissing you-"

"sHUT UP!" I groan as I cover my face.

~

𝄆 Y/N POV 𝄇

Falling in love is like picking flower petals. He loves me, he loves me not. He loves me, he loves me not. One day I think he likes me, the next I'm sure he doesn't.

Love is a beautiful thing, but sometimes it can be so hard. Does he like me? Why else would he go to all this effort for me? But at the same time, why would he want me when he could have anyone?

I might love him, but sometimes I just feel so insecure at the thought of him.

I think back to when me and Namjoon last talked. He had tried to talk to me, explaining that he did care. But I had jumped to conclusions and let my insecurities get the best of me. Was I the reason he wasn't talking to me? He must be giving me space because he thinks I'm mad at him.

I grab my phone and open it up to instagram. Messaging him, I write:

"Hey Namjoon. I'm sorry I didn't let you finish what you were saying last time... I guess I just got caught up in my anger. It wasn't fair to you"

After a while, I see three little dots.

𝄆 NAMJOON POV 𝄇

I typed out a message to her:

Me: Wait, so you're not mad at me?

Y/N: Of course I'm not mad at you! I thought you were mad at me..

Y/N: I... overheard these girls saying that you were just hanging out with me as a joke.. I know you would never do something like that! I just....

Y/N: I just started to feel like I wasn't good enough for your friend group

Me: Don't listen to them. We decide whose good enough for us, not them. I'm sorry they made you feel that way.

Y/N: Can I ask you something?

Me: Anything

Y/N: Just out of curiosity, what type of person would you date?

I pause. Do I tell her? Do I tell her what I've tried to tell her multiple times now?

No. I can't tell her over instagram DMs. When I tell her how I feel, I want it to be special.

Me: Someone smart, funny, pretty,

Someone like you.

Me: What about you? What type of guy would you date?

Y/N: I don't know haha. I haven't really thought about it.

Me: Would you consider... someone like me?

Y/N: ...maybe

Y/N: would you consider someone like me?

My thumb starts to type 'yes', but right as I'm about to press send my screen turns black.

"Shoot! My phone died!"

I'm not having another misunderstanding. Our conversations keep getting interrupted. If I can't send her the text, then I'm just going to have to tell her in person.

Tomorrow I will tell Y/N how I feel.

~

I rush into school. It's 8:00am still, plenty of time before class starts. I walk into the classroom to find Y/N sitting at her desk, a book open on her table.

"Y/N" I call out.

She glances up at me, worry painting her face.

"Y/N. I need to tell you something"

The classroom is empty, as class doesn't start for another half hour. Yellow sunlight paints the desks, slowly tilting as the sun continues to rise. The light brushes over her hair, highlighting a few strands that excitedly bounce up as she lifts her head.

"What is it?"

"I-I.." I stutter, "I need to talk to you"

She bites her bottom lip, looking down, "Is it about our conversation last night? Listen, I'm really sorry about-"

"No. It's, It's about... how I feel about you"

After a pause she bursts into laughter, "about the ideal type thing? It's okay if you don't feel that way about-"

"No!"

"Stop interrupting me!" She jokes, "it's okay if I'm not your type."

"No, what I meant was that you are my type! That's what I was trying to say before... my phone died."

She gives me a deadpan look, "your phone died?"

"It did! But that's why I've decided that I'm tired of being interrupted. I need to tell you that-"

"Namjoon! How's it going!" Jin yells as he opens the classroom door.

"NO!" I shout back at him. I then turn to Y/N, "I need to tell you that I like you. I have feelings for you. That's why I keep talking to you, why I always want to have lunch with you, why I got so angry at what those people said about you, because I like you. And I want us to be more than friends. And I understand if you don't feel the same but I just needed you to know that"

She looks up at me with shocked eyes. Did I yell all of that too? She closes her book and breaks eye contact, looking out the window at students walking in to school. Jin has a wide-eyed look on his face as well, probably surprised at my sudden outburst.

"You... like me?"

"Oh yeah. He's had the biggest crush on you since last year. He's spent the last week trying to tell you, it's really kind of-"

"Jin! Shush!" I whisper-yell.

Her small smile turns to a big grin, "you've liked me since last year?"

I rub the back of my neck, "well... yeah"

She jumps up from her desk like she's about to hug me, then stops and fiddles with her fingers, "I... I like you too!"

"Really?!" I smile too, "I.. That's, can I hug you?"

She smiles and nods. I pull her into me, resting my arms on her shoulders.

"Ew, get a room you too" Jin groans.

I pull away from Y/N, "we had a room until you showed up."

He just laughs and walks away, leaving his bag at his seat. Me and Y/N smile at each other. We stay in silence until class starts, only interrupted by our awkward giggles.

[chromatasia]

I think I have ideas for the world you are building here, in the UTY-TMA crossover AU. (…I hope I managed to get my eye-hands on everything you publically wrote about this. and that my takes are compatible with the rest of what you thought of)

I think I want to put one 'solid' divide between the surface (eyepocalipse) and the underground: while the surface has a clearer-than-ever distinction between Agents and Victims of That Which Is Fear, the underground should have this line as blurred as possible: people who have fear-based abilities are those who are still losing the most from it.

You mentionned Ceroba, because of course, but I think we can do the same for the others.

Dalv: …yeah the Lonely is kinda doing its usual stuff here.

Axis: He will outright tell you he will be here, ready to exploit any obscure loophole in his code to capture and/or kill you… if he chooses so. Completely unpredictable source of violence, requiring both cold logic and the whims of a (semi?)-sentient being. At the same time, following his programming is a duty Axis cannot sidestep, and it often forces him into hurtful and/or painful situations. The Slaughter gets to be a double-edged sword here.

Martlet: I think you've assigned the Spiral to her (or is it the other way around? :) ). I see her both making confusing DIY projects, puzzles, wooden architecture, and getting you lost if you try to follow her. But I see her getting often lost herself, forgetting what she was supposed to do, mixing priorities up. I suggest an often-self-contradicting Royal Guard Handbook she tries to follow. Either because said book was not fully proofread before being sent her way, or because the Spiral itself saw an opportunity in it. …Martlet is forgetting something. Something powerful, something dangerous, something sharp as metal points and broken glass thrown off a building, something as smooth and soft and malleable as… as… who was she talking about?

Flowey: pulls strings from behind the scenes, not realising that even if he wished for time to continue onwards, he would find himself unable to resist. Does he really just want those souls, or did he get addicted to the power to affect everyone else so subtly?

Clover: As you've said, they have been pursued by a terrible fate from the Surface, and they are sure it can and will track them down. At the same time, they know those who live in this Underground are culprits or accomplices in the murder of six children before them (yes, that includes the whole misunderstanding with Chara). Clover will find the ones responsible, no matter how they hide. It's a matter of justice. Right?

Starlo and the Wild East: to entertain themselves, the spaghetti western antics have only grown stronger as a way to forget the intrusions of Fear in the underground. Inhabitants would find themselves spectators one day, acting as bandits the next, as victims the one after that. And if they play especially well, they might find themselves in the coveted position of temporary sidekick to the Feisty(j) Five. Swapping roles as easily as clothes. Seeing others in the position they should have held as a 'civillian' while playing bandit. The saloon's bartender is not Dina today. Right? She calls herself Dina, but she's not the real deal, unlike yesterday, and probably tomorrow. Right? You can't remember her face, but it will come back, in time. Hopefully. In the Wild East, Sheriff North Star chooses who plays what role… but can Starlo recognise his friends anymore? can he recognise himself?

Asgore: Sooner or later, humans who have fallen down in his kingdom will have to meet him, and meet their end. Sooner or later, he will have seven souls, and the barrier will open. Despite the hope this fact brings to his subjects, he knows that getting out of the underground cannot be done without a painful confrontation with the humans of the surface. One way or another, when the barrier will open, he will be judged for his actions, and pay for them with his life. It is not a matter of "if", but "when".

Kanako: the blue-souled human was a good singer, she is sure of this. how else would the burning blue substance in her soul sound this beautiful? She already convinced some fellow goopy monsters to listen to it, and they agree. That ringing blue sound is… the only thing left in this old, abandoned, humid laboratory. …okay that last fear-assignment is kind of a stretch but still. I think the festering EXP/LV from that soul would be quite the Corruption/Slaughter mix. …but the amalgamates do scream "Flesh"… meh.

Decibat, El Baillador, Guardener:… I have no clue? Decibat sounds like a candidate for the Dark but even then…

ok sorry for procrastinating answering this i just needed the time to actually read and answer this /lh

so! most of the stuff yeah you got it! especially flowey - hes definitely an interesting one in this au :p but the only thing thats different actually is the feisty five and the wild east

in terms of plot, the main turning point occurs at the wild east where starlo is able to stop clover's murder spree through the power of Telling The Kid That They Are Just A Kid. cue clover finally having a break where they arent. you know. being hunted or hunting monsters down. the dunes as a whole is mainly occupied by the Vast (people get lost in the sandstorms. a lot.) but the town itself is mostly safeguarded from the fears - is it because of their optimism, or the oppressive heat that always hangs in the air whenever a servant of a fear attempts to approach? nonetheless, this becomes a (short lived) safe haven for clover, free from the fears save for their surroundings and the voice in their head urging them to keep going, to finish their mission - and, perhaps, a little string-pulling by a certain flower

[hummingbird-of-light]

Against All Odds

Part 805

McCoy

“And the rest of ye lads can go back to bed,” Francine said, turning to look at McCoy,

Scotty, Spock and Robbie. Her tone had changed as she spoke to them, to something kinder.

“Aye mum.” “Yes ma’am.”

Words were muttered and the four left Jim in the living room with Francine. Soft murmurs of surprise from Francine died away as they climbed the stairs.

“Uhh, hi Chris…,” Jim could be heard saying.

Robbie and Spock continued to their rooms as McCoy and Scotty turned into theirs.

Scotty’s face showed amazement as he turned from closing the door.

“What was the lad thinking?” he asked as he settled back into the bed.

“Hmph,” McCoy snorted next to him. “He’s eighteen now. By earth standards he has all the right to strike out on his own. Right?”

“Aye. But to just run away…”

“You’ve said how terrible his home life is with Frank.” McCoy shrugged. He continued after a yawn. “If he got everything he needs to taken care of, who can blame him for wanting to get away? But your mom is right; he should have told his mom.”

Scotty was quiet before McCoy heard a soft sigh.

“What?” he whispered.

“I’m so glad mum didn’t find someone like Frank after Dad,” Scotty whispered back.

McCoy tightened his arms around Scotty.

The sun was streaming into the room when McCoy woke again. He grinned as he opened his eyes. Scotty was leaving a path of gentle kisses across his face. McCoy moved to meet the next kiss on his lips and slid his hands under the edge of Scotty’s shirt onto his warm skin.

“I missed this,” he murmured as Scotty continued his path down McCoy’s neck.

“It was only a week love,” Scotty chuckled as he reached to pull McCoy’s shirt off.

When they finally got up Robbie and Spock were sitting at the kitchen table finishing eating. Good mornings were exchanged as McCoy and Scotty dished up.

“Why didn’t ye tell us Jim was coming?” Scotty asked Spock.

McCoy saw the slightest tension in Spock’s jaw.

“I did not know. He did not tell me. Nor would he—” Spock broke off abruptly and looked at his plate as his ears colored.

“What?” Robbie asked. “Wouldn’t what?”

“He wouldn’t let you in your bond,” McCoy said. He remembered a time when Jim had said the same thing about Spock. They had been misunderstanding each other about the new supposed Vulcan at school.

“Yes,” Spock said quickly.

“That’s why you were off yesterday,” McCoy concluded.

Spock gave a brief nod as he looked over at McCoy.

“Well, where is he now?” Scotty asked.

Robbie’s lips twisted trying to keep back a laugh.

“Francine said he may not leave the bedroom until she said he could. She has not given him leave,” Spock said.

“He’s afraid to cross Mum,” Robbie laughed.

“Where is she?” McCoy asked.

“Getting ready for work,” Robbie said.

“I’m sure she’ll let him out,” Scotty smiled. “Eventually.”

Just a few minutes later footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs. Jim came into the kitchen sheepishly following Francine. He sat next to Spock and grabbed some breakfast.

“Now. I’m off,” Francine said after she greeted the boys. “I hear of any trouble out of ye Jim Kirk, I’ll ship ye right out to Mr. Pike.”

“Yes ma’am,” Jim said quickly.

Francine gave him a stern look. “I mean it lad. There’ll be no room for ye here if there’s no behaving. And that includes at the wedding.”

“But I’m in the wedding! Scotty asked me!” Jim protested, eyes widening.

“I’m sure Keenser would step in,” Scotty said innocently. His eyes twinkled and McCoy snorted back a laugh.

“Or Pavel,” Robbie added. “Hikaru…, Jaylah even.”

McCoy caught the flick of a smile cross Francine’s face as she listened to her boys.

“Ye know what I mean,” she said firmly to Jim.

“Yes ma’am!” Jim nodded briskly. “Quiet as a church mouse over here.”

“Good! Have a good day lads!” Francine placed a kiss on each of her boy’s heads, and gave McCoy’s shoulder a squeeze. “Keep him out of trouble Spock,” she said, eyes twinkling like Scotty’s had a moment ago.

“Yes Francine.”

Part 806

Scotty

After breakfast, Scotty decided he would retire for a moment with Jim. He needed to have a conversation with his friend.

So they sat down together in Scotty's room, Scotty on the bed and Jim on the desk chair, and for a moment they were silent before the Scotsman spoke up.

"Why did ye run away from home, Jim? Did... something happen?"

Jim shrugged once more before grinning.

"Frank was at the bar again with his friends and... I decided to make my big exit."

Momentarily, Scotty raised a questioning eyebrow. He already had some apprehensions.

"Jim?"

The grin only widened.

"Maybe... the cleaning robot broke and decided to turn the entire house upside down? And quite possibly Frank's oh-so-valuable cigar collection got destroyed in the process? And the liquor shelf..."

Scotty knew Jim could go on forever with the list and he shook his head, although he couldn't help smiling either.

"Ye're just incorrigible."

"And then, of course, his dearest nephew has disappeared without a trace and he has to worry about how he's going to explain that to Mum. I bet he still hasn't called her because he's too scared of her reaction. Then again… she probably did call him after our conversation."

Scotty just sighed. He thought back to the previous evening. Francine had insisted on Jim calling Winona.

"What did ye tell her?"

"The truth."

Scotty's eyes widened in surprise.

"The truth?"

Jim nodded, leaning back in his chair.

"That I'm tired of living with Frank, who makes me work for him every day. That I hate him. And that she should deal with the fact that her brother is a stupid bastard."

Scotty's mouth opened on its own.

"So ye finally told her?"

All these years Jim had kept silent and let his mother live her life. All these years he had protected her from the truth.

"Yup."

"And... how did she react?"

Jim just laughed.

"She couldn't believe it. And she asked me why I never talked to her. I told her I knew she couldn't bear to know the truth. But I think she is ready now. After all, her youngest is now a man."

Scotty nodded in understanding. Then a question occurred to him.

"Does Mum know about this?"

Jim smiled gently as he nodded his head.

"We talked about it. She didn't listen to the talk with Mum, but when she had calmed down, she asked me just why I had left and I told her everything."

The smile softened even more as Jim seemed to remember the talk they had had.

"She... took care of me. Like... a loving mother would. Though she still grounded me... in a gentle way. And to be honest... she had every right to be upset. I mean... here I am suddenly at your door in the early morning, a stupid smile on my face... Surely your grandfather got the fright of his life. And so have all of you."

Scotty couldn't deny that.

"And I really shouldn't have done any of that, but... I got carried away. I guess... I just wanted to get a real telling off from a real mom."

It surprised Scotty to hear these words from Jim. He never expected his friend to be so insightful.

"Jim..."

"She's a very lovely woman, Scotty. And I'm glad that you have a great mum like her. I really wish I was her son too."

It touched Scotty to hear those words.

"Ye are her son, just like all of us. And she'll be there for ye. Whenever ye need her. She'd even call Frank and yell at him for hours."

Scotty's counterpart nodded with a smile.

"I know, Scotty. But... I wouldn't want her to get into trouble for my sake. It's over now. I'm free. I can do whatever I want. Let's just forget about the past and look forward, shall we?"

Slowly, Scotty got to his feet and walked over to Jim, wrapping his arms around him.

"Okay. Whatever ye want, Jimbo."

If Jim wished to forget, he would respect that wish.

"That ye put Mum's needs before your own... ye'll make a good captain."

He felt Jim's nod on his shoulder.

"Of course I will. What else do you expect?"

Scotty laughed as he let go of his friend and looked him in the eye.

"Won't Frank know ye caused the mess?"

Jim grinned broadly.

"Maybe," he said, before leaning forward and adding in a whisper, "but he has no proof."

Of course he didn't. What else had Scotty expected?

“Now let’s go see the others.”