#tries to prioritize all of readers time so they’ll be with him

[bones-of-a-rabbit]

You say "Sun/Moon arranged to be married to someone that's rude to them" I hear "Sun/Moon arranged to be married to Eclipse, when all of them would much rather marry Reader"

THIS IS IT. THIS IS THE MOST CHAOTIC TAKE FOR THE BETROTHED-BUT-IN-LOVE-WITH-A-SERVANT AU THERE COULD POSSIBLY BE. ONE WHOLEASS IDIOT STUPIDING THEIR WAY THROUGH LIFE WHILE THREE WHOLEASS MORONS ARE FRANTICALLY GOOGLING ‘how to tell my crush that I only want to elope with them and forget all about my engagement and live happily with them in a small cottage in the country side for the rest of our lives’

[chocodollxren]

If you’re still accepting orders, could I get a gyokuro green tea? Leech twins with a younger sibling reader!

of course!! <33 I’m still accepting and prioritizing until May 23rd! here’s your gyokuro tea! im going to say that the younger sibling is a first year at nrc! i wasn’t sure if you like wanted a scenario but since you said just younger sibling reader I went for soft general headcanons! feel free to request again if I messed up. ((:

𓄹 ❥𝘓𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘓𝘦𝘦𝘤𝘩❦ 𝘓𝘦𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘛𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘴 ,,

-> teahouse ,, menu ! order up ” guestlist ! ꒱·˚ ,, #O5.17.22🍵 ˖˚˳⊹ 'ּ໋݊◵

summary: headcanons of being the little sibling of the twin leech brothers! they’re just completely soft and things you’d have to deal with while being related to them! no tws, gn!little-sibling!reader.

being the littlest of the leech family means a few different things. you were a very fine eel, but you were stuck with two older brothers who looked like the sketchiest people in the entire coral sea. even if you’re completely normal, high chances are people will be scared of you just for being a leech. during your childhood you probably wouldn’t get many people trying to befriend you after learning who your brothers were. don’t worry though, Floyd loves his little sibling and would play with you! so long as he was in the mood, and you didn’t mind lots of tail cuddles. the way that Floyd showed his affection was by wrapping his much longer tail around your littler one, all the way around your waist and to your neck. he won’t kill you, you just can’t run away.

if you like sweets the tweels would really enjoy seeing your cheeks stuffed with dessert and making fun of you for eating so quickly or having chubby cheeks. don’t worry though, they love the chubby cheeks! their way of affection is through teasing and making fun of you, what they really mean to say is it’s nice to see you enjoying your meal. Floyd will only cook for you if he feels like it, it not you will have to make him dinner, you have to do it because he says so and he’s older.

Jade accidentally brought up the time Floyd tried to kill you when they were young because he didn’t want a little sibling. he was perfectly content being with Jade but eventually liked you when he was going to leave you at the depth of the sea and you just looked so damn sad and clung to him. you, however, have absolutely zero memory of this and were slightly concerned to find out your big brother was about to abandon you. Jade claims he wouldn’t of let him do that, regardless.

as soon as you got legs to attend nrc, they were there to laugh at you for nearly falling flat on your face. mama leech made them stop but as soon as they were out of earshot they teased you. don’t try to fight them, though. they’re older and it’s a two on one, now that you’re on land you’re all at a disadvantage. but you were especially, since one was an athlete and the other hikes mountains just for mushrooms. they won’t let anyone else laugh at you, though. only they get that privilege. the “no one bullies my sibling except me” privilege.

if you’re somehow not sorted into Octavinelle they get Azul on the case. they can’t let you escape,, they mean they can’t let their favorite little sibling wander aimlessly in such a big school! since you’re in Octavinelle would you also mind working in monstro lounge? that wasn’t a question, you’re being put to work. if you don’t like being a waiter they’ll make you cook, or vice versa. most of the time the job is actually getting Floyd to be normal and stopping Jade from doing something shady despite the lounge’s unofficial employee qualifications being shady.

both brothers wanted you in their club. Jade wanted you to hold his mushrooms and eat them because the other two banned him from keeping them. he hoped Azul’s fondness of you would allow him to keep them if you asked really nice. meanwhile Floyd just wants to chase you around and hit you with a basketball. if you choose to join Azul’s club they’re going to fake crying and sniffling about how you don’t love your brothers who care so much about you. if you do not pick one or just go for something none of them are in, the tweels will drop in whenever they want, the shadiest and craziest smile, and maybe stay a bit to see what you find interesting.

Floyd occasionally forced you to go swimming against your will and Jade smiles as he watches you sadly look up to him for help, waving you a goodbye. Jade will make it up to you later as he gives you some sweets from the lounge. meanwhile Floyd is asking you about his cool socks, along with how great his shoes look. Azul stands in the doorway wondering how you haven’t tried to maim one of them.

azul finds you to be the best sibling, you’re much more relaxing than the tweels. at the very least you are much more sane than the other two. you aren’t trying to eat octopus right in front of him while he’s working or trying to shade him. if anything he wonders how you can be related to them. the way Floyd comes from behind and squeezes you tightly, as you smile and talk to him proves you aren’t exactly normal, though. if you’re ever struggling, go ask your big brothers before Azul! you once thought that going to Azul would be the better option since he has so many sea anemones, but afterwards Floyd would not talk to you for a week saying go make Azul your big brother. he was also so upset at Azul he couldn’t work at the lounge all week. Jade found it very amusing that Floyd was upset and acted as though he was sad too, claiming he’d been sniffling and crying about how you’d choose Azul over him.

big brother Floyd is ready to squeeze whoever you date! absolute menace and all he needs to do is smile for your date to run. meanwhile big brother Jade goes to put his blackmail folder away, happy your date learned to leave on their own. as Jade has said, he’s happy with his family size for now. anyone can clearly tell they care for you, but in a very leech-family way. what do you mean normal families don’t squeeze each other, try to bully their little sibling until they wanna shrink, or give vary vague and threatening responses to those around their sibling? Jade has just straight up said to your friend that he’s so glad you met a healthy and nice friend, for now.

✎ ˎˊ- "chocodollxren" [choco - doll - rhen] ˖˚˳⊹ 'ּ໋݊◵ dn repost. likes/comments/reblogs appreciated; not required. so long as you enjoyed the content.

thank you for reading! the current orders are an epel gyokuro, jamil kuding, savannaclaw + pomefiore gyokuro, leona + rook gyokuro, dorm leaders gyokuro, vil + leona refill [pt2] funmatsucha gyokuro, dorm leaders funmatsucha gyokuro, and savanaclaw + octavinelle funmatsucha gyokuro! since the last two are about mental health and comfort, im going to prioritize uploading those next, then the other requests! thank you for understanding <33. my event starts soon so please request regular orders until May 23rd, so if you want want to request please do it now!

[ultrastarbee]

Hellooo I hope you’re doing well today/tonight. I’ve read some of your writings and they’re so good!

I think your requests are still open but if they’re not please ignore! May I request angst (or angst to fluff?) hcs or any other format you prefer of Draken and Baji with reader who had gotten injured? Reader is a member of Toman and because of their relation to Toman captains, there’s always the possibility of reader getting hurt but reader always promises that they’ll be alright. And then there’s some incident where they hurt (either reader defending them or some type of fight) and it panics draken/baji because they’ve been pining them and reader had been pining them. I really hope this makes sense, feel free to change anything- thank you!

It's afternoon here where I live, so THIS AFTERNOON I'm happy to do your request, honey! Thank you so much for tagging along and please feel free to request whenever you want.

Title: Fight for him Request: yees Couple: Draken x rader, Baji x reader Category: hurt do confort (angsty to fluff) Content Warning: fighting, blood, reader gets hurt Word Count: 1.258 Summary: reader is part of Toman and got hurt on a fight A/N: I felt so much deja vu writing this one. Maybe I already did something like that? huuum don't know, don't care either. I did light on the angst part

MASTERLIST ....... RULES ....... SERIES LIST

Draken

"You shouldn't come" Draken is walking by your side while some Toman members head to fight a rival gang.

"I can fight too, you know" you have a wicked smile on your face "I could totally bring you down if I wanted to, but I won't cuz we're friends and I like you".

"I know, you are a badass" Draken laughs making fun of you "stay safe, then".

"As if they could even scratch me" you laugh back and Smiley cheers on you. Pretty much everyone enjoy your fierly fight thirst.

It's dirty to bring a knife for a fist fight. You knew that. And you know even better now a knife is stuck against your leg. You know you shouldn't ever take out a knife that's buried down on your skin, but your opponent wasn't the only one carrying a knife. Toman didn't knew about it. Looking around you can see Mikey breaking the hand of someone who tried to stab him, Baji has already three knives under his feet and Smiley is now punching someone unconscious while Angry seems a bit worried about the knives situation. They were too busy fighting to have time to share information. Draken was fighting alongside Mitsuya when you saw a man with a knife approaching them. They didn't knew about the knives situation.

"Fuck it" you say to yourself pulling the knife out of your leg and running to stab Draken's opponent. You left a blood trail behind.

"Y/n? Why do you have a knife?" Mitsuya is the one asking.

"The enemies brought them. You two didn't knew, so I came to warn you"

"Thanks" Draken smiles grateful, but you feel too dizzy to stand up. Draken catches you "have you been hurt?".

"Barely" you try to stand up again besides the painful deep cut on your leg "we need to keep going. Some of our members don't know about the knives yet".

"Let me handle it" Mitsuya is the one talking again and Draken nods understanding "now go. I'll tell Mikey".

Draken takes you on his arms and starts running away from the battle. He ignores every request you make to go back to the fight. Draken can feel you hot blood running down his arms from your leg. He knows you can't feel all the pain right now due to all the adrenaline on your body from the fight.

"Thanks" you loose your grip on his clothes.

The doctors tell him you fainted from blood loss and you are lucky to be alive. The knife almost stabbed your femoral artery. That would have been a quick death. Draken shivers hearing that. Even with an injury like that you prioritized his life over yours. He is not happy about it.

"From now on you can't be part of the first division, being around Baji is making you as reckless as him" Draken starts scolding you as soon as he is allowed in your hospital room "I will talk to Mikey and you will under Mitsuya's orders".

"Mitsuya is too collected" you frown.

"You could have died today, you know that?"

"I know"

"Then don't complain"

"I won't"

"Great. Now..." Draken takes a deep breath and bows to you "thank you. Neither me or Mitsuya knew about the knives thing. We own you, Y/n".

"Did anybody else get hurt?"

"Only you. I'm sorry we couldn't protect you"

"It's okay. I mean, I protected you guys" you smile to him "and I told you I could bring you down".

"You are in a good mood for someone who almost died" Draken laughs.

"Of course I am. I was carried bridal style by a hot guy, of course I would be happy" you are still dizzy from the blood loss, so you didn't even know what you just said.

"So you think I'm hot?" Draken gets closer to you "what else?"

Baji

You always tag along with Baji and Chifuyu to eat together after school before gathering with Toman. Today is one of those ordinary days, but you are late to meet them because of some late school work.

"You are friends with Toman's Baji, ain't you? Where is him?" you never saw these people before, yet they still wanted to pick up a fight.

"Sure am"

You weren't just Baji's keychain, you are a Toman member as well. You can stand up for yourself pretty good, but there were too many people around you. Even though you weren't their target they did a nasty job after knocking you down.

The boys were tired of waiting for you, so Baji told Chifuyu to start ordering while he would go find your late ass. When Baji saw you on the ground he also saw red. He beat up every single one of the ones who ambushed you with a special touch of rage.

You woke up on a not-so-soft clean bed in the hospital. Your body hurts by just trying to shift position. Looking around you see some familiar dark locks by your side. Baji was sleeping with his head agains the bed. Moving your hand to touch him you see the IV on your hand. Shit went bad, huh? Baji was there since the ambulance took you to the hospital. He refused to go home. Baji wouldn't leave you there all by yourself knowing you are hurt. Knowing he could have helped if he was there moments before.

"Keisuke" you call his name with a soft touch on his head.

"You are awake. Took you long enough, dumb face" even with sleepy voice Baji is a little aggressive with his words "what was that about?".

"Sorry for being so weak" your smile is tired "Didn't want you to worry, so I didn't tell them where you were and that's why they..-"

"Those bitches were after me?" Baji's voice is louder when he cuts you.

"Yeah, but you were so tired today talking about all the tests and I wanted you to relax..-"

"That's why you were so late!" he cuts you again.

"Hey, let me finish at least one phrase"

"No way, you gonna get yourself in trouble if I let you" Baji pinches your cheek. It feels good knowing he cares about you "need to keep an eye on you".

"Thanks for helping me" you slap his hand off your face.

"Hm, you did well by yourself. Brought three of them with you"

"Nice" you smile proudly.

"Not nice, dipshit, you could be even worse" Baji scolds you.

"I'm fine, Keisuke"

"Fine my ass"

"Sure is" you say without even thinking.

"What?" his cheeks have a small tint on them.

"I mean, it's just some bruises" you try to distract him.

"You have a broken arm"

"Yes, but I still have one good arm" moving your free hand again you wave at him.

"You need both of them to ride. You can't tag along with us for now" Baji is speaking seriously now.

"Hey, I'm not invalid, I can still be fun!" you try reasoning with him, but there's no use.

"I am talking as your captain, quit prettending you don't know better Y/n"

"As you wish, my captain"

"So now on I will keep an eye on you at school" Baji's face is reddish again "and untill your arm is better you will go out with me".

"Sure, I could go out with you forever" the words slipped again.

"Then do it!" Keisuke's voice is loud and aggressive, but his face is just a blushing mess.

[favoniuscodex]

babysitting headcanons [tartaglia x gn!reader]

prompt: babysitting childe’s younger siblings with him, requested by anon pairing: childe/tartaglia x gn!reader word count: ~500 words warnings: none, super fluffy a/n: i have never been a babysitter. i have no younger siblings. i have no idea how children work. nonetheless, here’s the request!

childe has three younger siblings, anthon, tonia, and teucer. if the other two are anything like teucer, they definitely wreak havoc and tartaglia spoils them. he prioritizes family, so if you get along well with his, he greatly appreciates it

if you accompany him home to snezhnaya, the two of you will likely end up on babysitting duty at some point, which in turn leads to a bit more chaos

you’ll likely have to end up being the voice of reason as childe’s definitely the “cool big brother” to the three of them

if they rope you into a snowball fight, you’re on the team with the three kids as the four of you shriek in terror at childe’s scarily accurate aim and precision at managing to pelt all four of you in a rain of snowballs

tonia likes to braid your hair, if possible. she can’t really do so to her brothers and childe doesn’t sit still long enough for her to do so, so if your hair is even long enough for SOMEWHAT of a braid, that girl will be ON it

the three kids will definitely love you, no matter if you’re super gung ho about kids or if you’re a bit timid! they’ll think you’re super cool and want to hear all about you

the kids get to argue over which one of them gets to spend time with you after the babysitting is over. childe might even enter the argument as he tries to steal you away from them for some alone time.

these will NOT be the type of kids to mind their own business and play some video games. if you’re over and helping babysit, they’re pestering you to constantly entertain them. it would be a bit of a nightmare if you didn’t have ajax by your side to help diffuse some of their attention.

offer to help them make cookies and you’ll win their hearts! the kids try their best in the kitchen, but you’ll probably have to take the reins and finish up the project. give them sweets and they’ll be bouncing off the walls, but don’t worry, they’ll crash soon after

if you’re good with schoolwork, they’ll probably pester you for homework help as well. childe, for all his weaponry skills, likely doesn’t have the best education due to entering the ranks of the fatui at such a young age, so if you’re good with math, english, or science, the kids will definitely be grateful (and so will childe, because that man probably doesn’t know how to multiply fractions without crying and like... same)!

tartaglia is SUPER happy to see his four favorite people in the world get along really well!

if the kids ever try to boss you around or give you an attitude, childe’s Parental Insticts come out and he refuses to let them speak to you in such a manner, even if they are family. they’re his siblings, therefore he believes that you’re not responsible for dealing with their bad attitudes.

if the kids all manage to fall asleep, childe will definitely try to make out with you on the couch afterwards as a thank you for dealing with his younger siblings all day.

[invisibleanonymousmonsters]

All Men Have Limits - II

Character: Dick Grayson x Reader x Bruce Wayne

Summary: A certain bat believes that Y/N is in way over her head, that she’s too naive to act in her best interest. So, whether she wants it or not, the vigilante family is going to help and protect her before she gets herself killed.

Word Count: 4,300+

Previously on...

When Y/N arrived at the master bedroom, she was surprised to find the door slightly ajar. She knocked always and found Bruce turning to face her, shirtless and only in his boxer briefs.

Bruce seemed subtly surprised to find Y/N standing in his doorway and not Alfred. But he didn’t seem to be embarrassed by the state Y/N found him in. 

Along with the first aid kit, Y/N had grabbed two ice packs from the freezer.

“I’m fine,” Bruce told her before she could even offer to help him.

“You can either deal with me or you can deal with Alfred,” she threatened. 

“Your choice,” she added when she saw how serious he took her warning.

Bruce’s heavy sigh was the only answer she’d get.

“Come on,” Y/N nudged her head toward his en-suite bathroom that was probably twice the size of most people’s studio apartments.

She pointed to one of the steps that led up to the giant bathtub, silently instructing him to sit.

“Put these on your ribs,” Y/N instructed as she handed him the ice packs.

To her surprise, Bruce did as she asked.

“I don’t need stitches,” he mumbled as he watched her open the first aid kit.

“I know,” she answered. “Which is lucky for you, because I have no idea how to stitch people up.” 

She dabbed some cotton in hydrogen peroxide. “But…you still need to clean those cuts or they’ll take longer to heal and probably scar.”

Once again, Y/N was surprised to see that Bruce did as she said. He didn’t complain or refuse her assistance – just sat there silently. The man didn’t even flinch and Y/N knew she was causing his injuries to sting.

“What happened tonight that has you so upset?” Y/N finally asked after silently caring for him for a few minutes.

“What makes you think I’m upset?”

She sighed softly. “I’ll be the first to admit that you’re nearly impossible to read. But clearly something happened that caused you to storm out of the cave like you did.”

Bruce didn’t respond.

“Was it them?” Y/N asked carefully. “The Court?"

For a moment, she thought he’d ignore that question too.

“They know I’m protecting you. Well…they know that Batman is protecting you.”

Y/N shrugged. “We knew they were gonna figure it out eventually.”

Bruce remained silent.

“Did they send the Talons after you?”

From his expression, Y/N knew she was right.

The Talons were a group of lethal assassins that did all of the dirty work for The Court of Owls. They were highly trained, almost entirely undetectable, and a force to be reckoned with. Probably only second to the League of Assassins when it came to deadliness.

“That’s why Jason was with you,” Y/N pointed out. “You needed backup.”

“We had it under control,” was all Bruce said.

“I know you were already going after The Court,” Y/N told him gently. “And you need my help.” She hesitated and took in a shaky breath, “But thank you for looking out for me.”

“What was your plan?” Bruce asked.

“What do you mean?”

“When I came to you and told you that you’d been made, you said that you knew. What was your plan?”

“Run. And keep running. You and I both know I’m hopeless when it comes to an actual fight.” She shrugged. “My plan was to keep working on exposing them and stay alive long enough to see it through.”

Y/N waited for some sort of lecture, for Bruce to tell her that it was a stupid plan and she had been sloppy. She waited to feel patronized and belittled.

But Bruce just stared at her.

“What?” She challenged.

“I wish you would prioritize your life a bit more.”

She moved back a little from cleaning his cuts and snorted. “What? Like you?” 

Then she shook her head and went back to cleaning his cuts. “You’re so not the person to be lecturing about self-preservation, Bruce.”

Then Bruce surprised them both.

He grabbed Y/N by the back of her neck and brought her down to him before his lips collided with hers.

She dropped all the medical supplies in her hand from the shock of it all. But then she was cupping his face and kissing him back.

Next thing she knew, Bruce had steered her body so she was straddling his lap.

It had been so long since that night that Y/N had almost forgotten what his lips felt like. Or how his hands touched her so tenderly, but his intent was always clear and effortlessly confident.

But then Y/N’s leg accidentally collided with one of Bruce’s bruised ribs.

It didn’t deter him. He had every intention of ignoring it.

But Y/N felt his body tense in pain and she swore she felt the vibrations of the quietest pained moan from him. 

She could’ve imagined it, but she wasn’t going to continue knowing that she had the ability to accidentally hurt him.  

But it was also her saving grace. Because Y/N shouldn’t be doing this. 

Y/N reluctantly pulled away from the kiss. Bruce allowed the movement, but his grip on her waist and neck didn’t ease in the slightest.

“You should rest,” she whispered to him.

Then she shoved herself away from him and awkwardly stepped backwards as if she was desperately trying to put space between them.

“Umm…make sure you keep that ice on your ribs,” she told him awkwardly, half turned away from him.

Bruce opened his mouth to stop her, but no words came out. 

The next second, she bolted out of the bathroom and then his master suite.

Her mind was racing with so many thoughts that Y/N didn’t notice Dick catching her race into her own bedroom.

Dick looked between Y/N’s closed door and the direction of Bruce’s room, putting it all together. 

—————

After the close call with the Talons, Bruce had all hands on deck. Even Jason – who usually did his own thing and had separated himself from family matters – had been brought into the fold. Which meant he was spending way more time around the manor.

Y/N knew things were getting serious.

Bruce wasn’t exactly keeping her in the dark. But he also wasn’t being forthcoming with information.

Y/N didn’t know if he was trying to shield her in some way…or if he was just doing business as usual and taking control, not allowing anyone in until he thought it was absolutely necessary.

Either way, through the chaos of it all, Y/N realized Dick hadn’t acted as her shadow in almost a week.

It wasn’t until Jason decided to bother Y/N that she realized what had changed.

Jason leaned backwards against the console Y/N was working on so she was forced to face him. He crossed his arms with a smirk and looked down at her.

“So, you and B, huh?”

“Get off my equipment,” she warned him darkly without even glancing at him.

But inside, she was internally freaking out. 

Y/N made a point to keep as many facts about her life a secret. And her sex life? That was top priority when it came to her privacy. This was worst case scenario.

But also, how the hell did he figure that out?

Jason shrugged, but did as she asked and took a step away from the console. “He didn’t say anything, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

Y/N finally looked up him. “Please tell me what I have to do to get you to leave me the fuck alone.”

Jason smiled and whistled. “I think I like you.”

“The feeling’s not mutual,” she mumbled as she began typing again.

“Jason, leave her alone.”

Y/N turned to see Dick walking into the cave.

Jason held up his hands in surrender and gave his brother an innocent face. “I was just trying to be polite to our guest, Richard.”

“I’m sure you were,” Dick side eyed him.

Jason then turned to Y/N and put on his Red Hood helmet. “I look forward to having more of these titillating conversations, Y/N.” Then he turned to Dick. “I’m heading out on patrol.”

He mounted his motorcycle and raced out of the cave, leaving Dick and Y/N alone for the first time in awhile.

“No patrol for you tonight?” Y/N asked him slowly.

“They’ve got it covered.”

She just nodded and didn’t ask any further questions.

All at once, they were submerged into strange silence. The air was racing with thoughts, yet the tension seemed to simultaneously make it thick, as well.

Y/N sighed. She might as well get this over with. 

“I know you want to ask, so just ask,” Y/N mumbled as her fingers raced across the keyboard and her eyes never left the screens.

“Doesn’t the whole…” Dick really didn’t know how to put it delicately.

Y/N sighed, clearly annoyed with his fumbling. She turned around in her chair to face him. “Does his age bother me? Is that what you’re struggling to ask?”

Dick shifted his weight awkwardly, “I guess so. Yeah.”

She raised her brow. “Haven’t you dated a literal alien before?”

“That’s not the same thing,” he defended with a glare.  

“Oh, so as long as the alien is the same age as you, it’s fine?”

Dick really didn’t have an answer for that.

“It’s just that…aren’t you a little young for him?” Somehow he managed to leave out the rudeness in the question. That must be the Wayne charm.

“Isn’t 9 a little young to put on a costume and fight crime?”

Dick sighed, “Touché.”

“I am one of the most successful hackers in the world. He’s a vigilante who dresses up as a bat. What about us screams normal and conventional to you, Dick?”

He knew she had a point.

“Plus, we aren’t in a relationship. It was a one-time thing. Nothing more. It happened a long time ago.”

However, she conveniently left out the heated kiss they shared last night.

“You sure about that?” Dick challenged.

Y/N just eyed him.

“Because the only women he’s had one-time things with are the one’s he’s used or paid to keep the image.” He took a step closer. “And they definitely didn’t know who he really was.”

Y/N tried not to let it show that his words caught her off guard.

This exactly what Y/N didn’t want.

She didn’t want anyone putting ideas in her head that she actually meant something to Bruce Wayne. Because she might make the mistake of believing it.

It happened once. They slept together once. One time. 

Had there been a indescribable intensity between them since then? Yes. But Y/N didn’t like to acknowledge or think about that.

“Can we please stop talking about this?” She asked.

Dick blinked and shook his head. “Sorry,” he blurted out. “I didn’t mean to…make you uncomfortable.”

Y/N put her face in her hands and groaned.

Then she shot to her feet and faced Dick. If he wasn’t a vigilante who could break the average man in one swift move, he would be intimidated by the energy radiating off of her.

“Hmm…I wonder why this conversation could ever make me feel uncomfortable, Dick,” her sarcasm was almost too natural.

Then her face dropped.

 When her body language screamed that she was embarrassed, that’s when Dick felt like a piece of shit.

“Look, we’re not…” She didn’t even know how to explain this. “We’re nothing. OK?”

Dick nodded slowly, “OK.”

And he believed her. Because she believed it. Whether that was the truth though, that was an entirely different story.

“We met years ago because I threatened to expose his identity to the world.”

Dick blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”

Y/N at least had the shame to look guilty about it.

“You threatened him? You threatened Bruce Wayne? The man who dresses up as a bat and scares the shit out of the criminals of Gotham?”

“I didn’t plan on actually doing it!” Y/N tried to defend. “I needed to get his attention. And guess what, it worked.”

She pinched the bridge of her nose as she thought back in time. “I discovered a sex trafficking ring. I had all the information, everything to take it down. I just needed a little…muscle.”

“And you thought Batman could be that muscle,” Dick finished for her.

She nodded.

Then Dick looked at the all the equipment. Her story reminded him what she was fully capable of and why she was here in the first place. “How did you learn to do all of this?”

It was obvious that he was trying to change the subject and give her an out. But she let him still.

Y/N shrugged.

“Is this the part where you tell me about all your degrees from various Ivy League universities?” Dick teased.

“I didn’t go to college,” she told him evenly.

“You di–How is that even possible?”

“I don’t agree with institutionalized higher education.”

Dick rolled his eyes.

“Don’t roll your eyes at me,” she warned him. “You didn’t go to college either.”

Dick scoffed and crossed his arms. “Of course that’s old information to you. Is there anything that you don’t know about me?”

She smirked at his obvious frustration. “I don’t know your favorite color.”

Though she had been teasing him before, her confession was genuine. And her soft tone didn’t go amiss with Dick.

For a moment, Y/N didn’t think he was going to tell her. 

“It’s red,” he told her softly.

“Hmm,” she was surprised. “I always assumed it was blue…because of the uniform and all.”

“Red was always the color of my family’s costumes.” He knew the answer was rather vague.

Y/N’s face turned sympathetic, “The Flying Graysons?”

Dick nodded.

Maybe it wasn’t so bad that she seemed to know everything about him.

“Red’s a good choice,” Y/N added with a sad smile.

But he realized what she was actually saying was her condolences. Somehow it was better than the forced and awkward “I’m so sorry” he constantly got.

Dick grabbed a chair and sat down to face her with such purpose.

“What else do you want to know?”

Y/N allowed herself to smile at the question. 

“Everything.”

—————

Y/N got addicted to Dick’s openness.

Once Dick Grayson decided to trust someone…he really trusted them.

He didn’t hide himself from Y/N.

Unlike Bruce, Dick was easy to read. But Y/N knew that wasn’t the case for everyone. She saw the way Dick communicated with old team members or even on comms with his brothers. 

But for Y/N, if she asked him something, Dick gave her the answer.

It was as simple as that.

There were no games, no hiding, nor withholding, not manipulation, no fear.

There was just Dick Grayson.

But Y/N also new he was capable of all of those things still. She’d seen him twist conversations and put the focus on the other person. He doesn’t seem to have any issue with blatantly lying. That’s when Y/N saw Bruce.

So why was she different?

————

“I can’t stay another second in this fucking house,” Y/N snapped one day.

They had just eaten dinner and were now sitting in one of the dens. 

Dick laughed at her. “It’s not exactly a prison, Y/N. You’re in a mansion with everything you could ever need – and more.”

But this was the most time Y/N had spent in one place. She was always moving, always on the run. Yeah, she stayed in Gotham for the most part, but she missed the dangerous streets of the city.

“I’m not taking you out,” Dick gave her a warning look as he pointed at her.

“OK. First off, Bruce said nothing about me not being able to leave.”

Dick gave her a look that said, ‘How dumb do you think I am?’

“And if you were with me, then it’s fine. Right?”

“Y/N,” Dick groaned.

“And finally, I can do what I want,” Y/N added with a serious look.

“Sure you can,” he smirked.

But Y/N was being serious and she stood up. “I’m not his prisoner.”

Then she was headed toward the garage.

“No one said you were,” Dick called out after her.

He jumped in front of her, blocking her path.

“Y/N, you know more than anyone that The Court has eyes everywhere. Your face shows up on one street camera for a second and you’ll be tagged. They’ll follow you back here and then nowhere will be safe.”

“I know,” she answered as if it were obvious. “But we’re just going for a drive. Half of Bruce’s cars have tinted windows. And we’re going to take the backroads on the fringe. No street cameras. I doubt we’ll even see another car.”

Dick was adding up the risks in his head, calculating every possible outcome.

“Is Nightwing scared of what Batman will think?” Y/N teased.

Dick raised his eyebrow in amusement and crossed his arms. “Whatever game you’re trying to play…we both know I can play it better.”

She gave him the most innocent face. 

Dick sighed. Was he really about to do this?

“Come on,” he told her.

“Really?” Y/N was shocked she got him to concede.

“But I’m driving. And we’re taking the bike,” he called over his shoulder as he turned on the lights of the garage.

‘Garage’ was an understatement. It looked more like a fancy warehouse that housed at least 20 cars and a dozen motorcycles.

“The bike?” Y/N questioned.

Dick chuckled. “What? You scared of riding motorcycles?” 

Before she had the chance to answer, he pushed a helmet into her chest. It would fully cover her face and had a tinted visor shield on it. 

“Need I remind you that this was your idea?”

Y/N glared at him and put on the helmet.

She watched a safe distance away as Dick started his motorcycle and revved he engine.

Even though she was wearing a helmet, he could still tell she was apprehensive.

“Come on,” he encouraged her gently before putting on his own helmet.

Slowly, she approached the motorcycle.

“Just swing your leg over – there you go,” he instructed.

Then he put on his helmet and Y/N realized there were comms linked between the two helmets so they could hear each other easily.

“Uhh…where do I–how do I hold on?” Her question stumbled out.

To her surprise, he didn’t verbally answer. Instead, Dick just reached behind him for her hands and placed them under his leather jacket and around his waist.

The contact felt strangely intimate. And Y/N hated that it made her heart race a bit faster. She hoped he couldn’t feel it as her chest bumped against his back. Hopefully he would just think it was her adrenaline and fear from the bike. 

“Good?” He asked as he revved the engine again.

“I think so?”

Suddenly they shot out of the garage and raced down the long drive that led to the gate. 

Y/N didn’t think Dick was going unusually fast, by any means. But the motorcycle made everything feel more extreme. She slowly started to put together why people liked riding them so much. It was a rush. 

Dick did as he suggested and took backroads, avoiding any main streets or heavy-traffic areas. Which meant a lot of twists and turns.

But Y/N was surprised when he started to slow down and pulled onto a street that was just surrounded by forests. The sun had just set and the sky was colored pink and purple.

Dick turned off the bike when they reached a clearing. It was a meadow, with tall grass that moved like the ocean from the night breeze.

Y/N took off her helmet and grinned at the sight. 

She turned to Dick, “Didn’t expect a city boy like you to know places like this…”

“City boy?” Dick looked insulted. “I was a traveling circus kid before Bruce took me in.” He looked out at the land, “This was one of our stops. We set up right over there,” he pointed to an open field where the ground was even and the grass was short.

Y/N’s face changed when she realized Dick had a connection to this place. It wasn’t just a stop off the highway. It meant something to him.

“Thank you,” she mumbled. It was hard to meet his gaze.

“For what?”

“Taking me here. For taking me anywhere, really.”

“Despite how enormous the manor is, it’s suffocating sometimes,” Dick tried to reason with her. “Has it really been so bad, being stuck with us?”

“No,” she quickly answered and took a step toward him. “How much time have you spent working with a team?”

Dick thought about it. “I mean, after leaving Bruce, I just went from one team to another. Even when I think I’m working alone, my family is always around the corner.”

Y/N gave him a sad smile, already knowing that would be his answer. “I never had that. It’s always just been…me.”

“Why?” Dick questioned. 

He knew better than anyone that heroes found other heroes, whether they wanted to or not. And he knew from experience that a team had a stronger chance of changing the world for the better. Even Bruce gave up on being a lone warrior – despite him trying to believe he still is one. 

“I don’t go after criminals that wear face paint and shoot guns, Dick. I go after the people that terrify others into silence and submission. I go after the people that most don’t even know we should be going after.” She shook her head. “It’s dangerous in a different way. And I never wanted to risk anyone else’s life but my own.”

“But when things go south, who’s got your back?” Dick challenged.

Y/N thought about it a moment and just shrugged.

Dick’s eyes saddened. “It doesn’t have to be that way, Y/N.”

She didn’t acknowledge his statement.

When there was a large gust of wind, Y/N closed her eyes as if it would help her body absorb the nature around them.

Dick allowed himself to take her in while her eyes were closed – all of her. 

He still didn’t know so much about her past – what she’s seen, what she’s been through. But he felt like he understood her as a person. He saw how intelligent she was, how she explained things to Tim without sounding condescending or embarrassing him for not knowing. Or how patient she was with Damian when he was his bratty self, and she clearly saw his behavior for what it was: a child who didn’t know how to converse with normal people. And when Jason was a sarcastic smartass, Y/N gave it right back to him. Dick also didn’t miss how Y/N offered to help Alfred cook and clean up as if it wasn’t his job.

The moment Dick was having as he looked at Y/N was interrupted by his phone.

“100 bucks that it’s Bruce,” Y/N griped.

And when Dick pulled it out from his pocket, lo and behold, Bruce’s name was lit on the screen.

“Hello. Yeah, she’s with me. We just went for a drive. We’re heading back now.”

As soon as he hung up, Y/N asked, “Was he pissed?”

“He was extremely calm, which is probably not a good sign.”

But Dick didn’t seem too concerned with Bruce’s wrath. He’d grown out of that long ago. 

“Come on,” he nodded to his parked motorcycle.

Y/N slid on the bike behind him with much more confidence and finesse this time. And there was no hesitation as she wrapped her hands around around Dick’s waist. He swore her grip was tighter too.

“Ready?” Dick still asked her. 

But then his hand seemed to have a mind of his and slid over the grip she had on his waist, brushing across one of her hands almost…affectionately.

He didn’t even realize he did it until a few seconds afterward.

“Mhmm,” Y/N hummed.

The ride back was less peaceful. The sun had gone down and if they weren’t in view of Gotham’s city lights, they couldn’t see their surroundings. It also didn’t help that they knew they were returning to the manor to face Bruce.

When they parked inside the garage and turned off the engine, they both heard Bruce call Dick’s name from inside.

Y/N winced, but quickly recovered.

She squeezed Dick’s upper-arm. “Don’t worry. This is on me.”

Before Dick couldn’t argue and say he wasn’t scared of Bruce, Y/N was walking back into the manor.

“Need I remind you that you’re number one on The Court of Owls’ hit list?” Bruce told Y/N darkly.

He was wearing a black turtleneck and slacks. It was an off-duty look for him, but he still looked like he was in some sort of uniform.

“Dick had nothing to do with it,” Y/N defended calmly. “I threatened to photoshop nudes of him and sell them to TMZ and the Daily Mail.”

Bruce shared a look with Dick over Y/N’s shoulder, proving that he already knew Y/N had made no such threat.

“I’ll be in my lab,” Y/N announced, deciding to end the conversation before it could turn into a lecture or argument. 

When she passed Bruce, Y/N turned around and gave Dick a grateful smile before mouthing, ‘Thank you’ to him.

Now it was just Bruce and Dick.

“If you want to lecture me, just get it over with,” Dick sighed.

“You know better,” Bruce answered.

“She was going to leave whether I went with her or not. I thought it was best to keep an eye on her. I wasn’t stupid about it, Bruce.”

“Don’t let it happen again.”

Dick glared at him. “We can’t keep her locked up here forever.”

“She’ll stay until we take down The Court. Until then, she’s at risk.”

Dick quirked an eyebrow. “Careful, Bruce. It’s starting to sound like you’re making this personal.”

But they both knew there was another meaning behind his words. Dick saw Bruce put together what he was really trying to say. ‘I know you two have a history. I know what happened between you.’

But Dick didn’t know what was happening now. 

Bruce just glared at him and said, “I could say the same to you.”

Then he turned and left.

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

Part III

Ooooooo. The drama!

Let me know what you think! Please 😔

[my-writings-and-musings]

Could you do the oxygen loss prompt with Cygate, but instead of the human being their S/O it’s their adopted human child? Sorry if that’s weird but I crave space dad content with every fiber of my being

There is nothing weird about space dad content, it's good and pure and the world needs more of it, thus I am happy to provide.

Here's links to other posts of this prompt!

Part One: Here!

Part Two: Here!

Part Three: Here!

Part Four: Here!

Part Five: Here!

Part Six: Here!

Part Seven: Here!

Part Eight: Here!

Part Nine: You're Here!

Part Ten: Here!

Part Eleven: Here!

Part Twelve: Here!

Cyclonus/Tailgate

Adopted Human Reader

·Tailgate was the primary driving force behind your adoption, but Cyclonus was in no way opposed, merely more reserved as you were welcomed into their lives through an unexpected but life-changing adoption. Though somewhat new to being a couple and quite new to parenthood, they've done an excellent job getting you set up for your shared life together as a family. You even have your own room right across from there's! Today though you're chilling with them in preparation for a movie night, sitting atop a table as snacks are decided on and the list of potential films is narrowed. Cyclonus is mostly content to let the two of you pick what you want, though he does try to encourage the entertainment selection to be more... educational and the snacks a modicum healthier.

·Your greatest struggle is choosing the final winner from your options left, until of course, the electricity begins to cut out and the three of you are left momentarily in the dark. This alone would have been nothing but an inconvenience, though the seismic shake that hits the ship afterwards is far more dangerous. Nothing but a blur of metal in the dark fills your vision as the tremor sends each of you tumbling. When you finally orient yourself and the world stops moving, you realize you're being cradled in a panicked minibot's arms, and a blue visor glowing in frenzy is above you. Tailgate is checking you over like a concerned mother hen, and you're so overwhelmed by his fussing it takes you a moment to realize that he's also being held, and that you're between two pairs of optics overflowing with care.

·Cyclonus gently puts an end to his mate's impromptu medical examination by pointing out the more immediate issue; something dangerous is undoubtedly inbound. Tailgate may not have the same level of experience, but he's been on enough ships to know what an anchoring feels like, and regardless of the enemy in question things are about to get unpleasant. In unison they both agree to get you somewhere safe. Gently as can be, Tailgate reassures you that everything will be okay while stroking a little hand down your back. He promises that much, and Cyclonus firmly echoes the sentiment.

·Quite aware of how tiny you are, particularly in regards to Cybertronian combat, you put up no resistance to their plan. So long as everyone gets out safe, you insist. In a well rehearsed battle strategy, Cyclonus stands just behind Tailgate, but he's hardly the only one who will be protecting you. Your other adoptive parent has you in his arms and, with his smaller frame, is set up to shield you quickly from the front while Cyclonus handles any potential assaults from behind with his solid back armor. It's a routine they established just to keep you safe. Right now it is helping you feel like you're in a kind of moving fortress, and to be fair with these two that comparison isn't far off. Unicron himself would have a hard time breaking through their collective front.

·Perhaps tempted by your metaphorical thoughts, the universe answers with a challenge in the form of an entire squadron of enemy combatants, though your guardians are quite prepared. Before the attacking aliens can even charge, the two of them are moving in a kind of wordless sync, one that an outsider might think was the result of peerless calm. You know better when Tailgate rolls to slip you into a well defended little cove though, as you catch what's in both of their optics; fear. Tucking down as small as you can, you watch them attack with a kind of rage that juxtaposes almost fantastically with the tender kindness they raise you with. Few would probably blame you for having a hard time believing the same Cyclonus cleaving an enemy in half right now also sings softly when you have trouble sleeping... The same could be said for Tailgate, who fusses over you every time he feels you may be too hot or cold but is now pummeling an alien's legs so his mate can finish them off. Knowing that it's all to protect you is somewhat awe inspiring.

·No sooner has the last enemy fallen then the two are back where they left you, though this time Tailgate isn't alone as he checks you over whilst they walk, with Cyclonus inserting a quick request for confirmation that you are indeed uninjured. Admittedly a little dizzy from the rush, you smile and assure them both you're unhurt. At that they continue on the way to the well defended medical bay. You are actually far more sluggish than you think you should be, but it's hard to care about that in the face of everything else, and you don't really have to worry with these two protecting you... How lucky you are, to have been adopted by such a loving pair of parents. Being quite the unusual couple just makes your little family more unique in your mind. At such happy thoughts you can't help but smile, though it's weak and visibly hindered by how groggy you are.

·Tailgate takes notice of that sleepiness first as you become less upright in his arms. Giving you a little bounce, he starts to walk faster as the requests regarding your condition start anew, his visor growing worried as he sees your tiny frame failing to perk up. Cyclonus follows in his worry, especially when you prove physically incapable of lifting yourself up completely. They know something must be terribly wrong. Uncertain why they're so upset, you try to reassure your parents that you're simply a little tired. The rush of the fight probably drained you more than expected, you explain. Hearing how breathless you are in the explanation only solidifies their fear that something is wrong. Not knowing what it could be, they make the difficult decision to forgo stealth for the sake of speed; you need to get to the medical bay.

·Rushing air flows past as they move at speeds impossible for humans, drawing your gaze upwards as Tailgate reassures you everything will be alright despite your total lack of concern. Though you can see the fear in his face, you still appreciate how brave he's being for your sake. Having parents who prioritize your health as well as your feelings is a dream come true. Cyclonus is mostly silent, his optics on the horizon, but you know he's also concerned to an incredible degree. It's obvious in his optics every time they glance down at you so full of worry. Despite his usually reserved exterior, the big bot loves you just as much as his mate, and you've more or less had him wrapped around your finger from day one. You can still recall how they would lovingly ensure your comfort every time you went to bed in your new home...

·Both mechs can see you're drifting off faster with every passing minute. Tailgate tries harder to keep you awake as he watches your eyelids grow heavier, but his efforts prove to be in vain despite how badly he wants you to be okay, and his spark twists with anxiety. Cyclonus is the same, as both have no real idea as to what is wrong, and thus no real way to help you. Doubts that plagued them from the day they considered making you their own child return to haunt them in full force. They loved you so much, but there was so much they just didn't understand about your species, and what if that made them unfit to care for you? Would another human have figured this out by now? Surely you wouldn't be in this situation if you weren't with them...

·Cyclonus takes matters into his own hands, rather literally, when he scoops up his tiny mate to run at his fullest speed. Tailgate barely notices the action in his increasing panic. He can feel you growing weaker in his arms, but why? Attempts to comm Ratchet or anyone who might have a clue as to what's going on prove fruitless, and the two parents are left to flounder in their fear, the worst possibilities barreling through their minds in unison. You feel bad that they seem so scared, but can't bring yourself to stay awake as they request, the grogginess pulling you down in your parent's arms as it has under less dire circumstances in the past. The desire to sleep is simply too great. Isn't it ironic, how these bots are usually the ones pushing for you to go to bed, and now they want you to stay up? It's enough to make you smile as warm blackness finally claims you...

·Tailgate is beside himself when you drift off, and Cyclonus isn't any better, his legs giving out as he cradles you both. It's only by happenstance that a team of bots comes by at that moment, doing emergency rounds to gather the crew and clear out hostiles, and stumbles upon the terrified parents. By the grace of good fortune Ratchet is among them, and the medic is able to quickly put together what's going on due to his intel. Between the bursts of begging from Tailgate and Cyclonus, he's able to just break through and inform them of the full situation; oxygen has been compromised due to the attack. Before they can ask further questions, he explains that you need medical attention, but the ship is still under threat. It's somewhat obvious even in their cloud of grief and fear what he is going to say next.

·To secure the Lost Light, and by extension you, they wordlessly agree to accompany the group to the medical bay... at which point they'll leave you there to join the defense. Being by your side will do no one any good if the ship is taken. It hurts more than anything ever has, but they turn their mutual rage and pain towards the threat. All the while you remain in the medical bay, being stabilized by the medical staff who provide the care and oxygen you need to recover, their incredible skills ensuring you'll make a full recovery in due time. It's a prognosis that gives your parents relief but no peace when the battle is won. Seeing you in such a state still hurts in ways they can't begin to process, and thus they're left to wait in silent pain for you to awaken, holding each other as Tailgate weeps openly and Cyclonus internally.

·When you do wake up, it's beneath your favorite blankets, which were tucked about you just how you liked. A gentle but very concerned flurry of activity welcomed you back to the living world, and before you knew it your parents were on either side of the medical slab you found yourself upon, their worry obvious in every word and every inch of their expressions. Confused, especially by the oxygen mask on your face, you ask what happened to you. Worry turns to guilt in an instant. Tailgate starts with an explanation about what you do remember, gently asking about your recollection of the moments leading up to where your memories end. Cyclonus takes over for his mate when it proves too much, laying out the full scope of the alien attack and the atmospheric failure which nearly killed you. The brush with death catches you quite off guard.

·Unable to hold back tears, Tailgate bursts out in an apology for their failure to protect you, particularly in regards to not even knowing what was hurting you at first. Cyclonus gently shushes him, but doesn't correct the sentiment. Instead, he shares it, expressing his understanding if you have any newfound reservations regarding their parenting. Such a thought is so unfounded it strikes you silent. Why would this hamper your relationship in any way? These two had saved you! Their lack of human anatomy had spared them, and by extension you, from meeting an untimely fate in the suffocating attack. Letting them know as much, you can't help but feel a pang of your own fear when they appear unconvinced. If they're the ones changing their minds-

·Both Tailgate and Cyclonus react in a unified rush when you let that thought slip; they will never leave you, both promise at once. Tailgate assures you he loves you far too much and Cyclonus promises no challenge could ever make him leave you. It's enough to make the three of you cry. Clearly there are still challenges for your unique family dynamic, but none of you will ever give up. The challenges will just have to be faced together. Before you can thank them for everything they did your parents start fussing over you once again, encouraging you to rest while they adjust the room to your liking and promise that whatever food or entertainment you want will be there when you wake up.

[blxetsi]

modern hange zoe dating headcanons

lowercase intended !

hange zoe x gn!reader

- first, their love language is definitely a mix of physical touch and verbal affirmations

- idc idc theyre the best of both worlds 🤩

- you prefer verbal affirmations over physical touch (or vice versa) ? their immediately making a mental note and showing u love with whichever one u like more

- i think they'd be a scientist or researcher ?? maybe they'd study the human body or like global warming ?? idfk but would definitely go into the science field

- also i personally love the idea of moblit and them being together 😳🤚 idk i love the idea

- but since YOU are with miss hange id like to think they stayed friends after the breakup 😌✨ theyre both mature ppl (and hot)

- moblit is always third wheeling w you guys. you and hange could be making out and he'd sit there with his iced coffee like 😐

- hange i feel is a very forgetful person, so like, dates and stuff (things made on a sort of short notice) they tend to forget about, but things like birthdays and anniversaries are NEVER forgotten

- ofc they'll make it up to you after you call them from the restaurant youve been waiting in for over an hour

- but sometimes it does hurt that they value their work so much, you love that they find joy in what they do and are dedicated, but it just feels like they prioritize work over you

- and hange understands ! and they start trying to be on time for things like that. is also constantly reassuring you at random times that they love and care about you

- also loves to spoon you. will literally wrap around you like a koala in bed. doesnt matter if its too hot and youre both immediately sweating, will trap you with their insane amount of strength and never let you go until either they wake up or you wake up begging to use the restroom

- i feel like when theyre working from home (which is everyday in a pandemic 🙄 even tho these headcanons arent really structured around pandemic modern times) they forget to eat/drink when they get reeeaaaallllyyyy into what theyre researching

- could be on the verge of discovering a new genetic mutation (idk) while also being on the verge of passing out due to dehydration

- theyll come out for dinner and be like "yknow ive been having this weird headache all day"

- "probably because you havent drank any water today"

- will stare at you like "🤨" before replying "nah i dont think so 😹"

- you have to threaten letting them starve to get them to drink some water. and as soon as they do theyre chugging three cups

- five minutes later theyre like "babe ! it worked ! youre awesome"

- lots of pet names like babe/baby, my love, my darling (in a dramatic english accent), honey, and any others that youd prefer

- has a weird love for the cartoon archer (yknow that adult show with like 10 seaons ??)

- will literally no nothing about the plot or characters, and will only put the show on for background noise while theyre doing something, but will ALWAYS recommend archer to others and say its their favourite cartoon if asked

- also loves the amazing world of gumball (you got them into it) actually watches the show and loves it, yet never thinks of it when asked "what shows should i watch ?" or "what are some shows you like ?"

- if youre like, an artist or something like that, they genuinely LOVE anything you make

- you made them a little painting ? theyre hanging it up in their apartment. you created a clay vase or something ? buying flowers to put in it rn (doesnt even take care of the flowers but yk)

- if youre having a bad day theyre dropping everything for you (unless its super important then theyre saying "how about i move my work to the bed and we can cuddle ?")

- if you need to rant theyre actively listening while trying to work. will accidentally start typing what youre saying onto their word document. ends up having to delete three whole paragraphs about that bitch at work smh 🙄🤚

- loves taking showers/ baths w you (NEVER in a sexual way though) they genuinely find it fun to wash each other's hair and stuff. if you ask them to wash your back theyre shoving their hands in your armpits and tickling you like,, mf ill fall and take us both down 😐

- definitely an ass/thighs person. doesnt matter how big or small, loves it.

- also a dish collector in their room. their room and office are in the same space, so youll find them with cups and plates on their desk where their research is supposed to be like bae,,, i think youre growing a new kind of mold 😍🦠💥

- talks so passionately abt their work and coworkers to you. theres this new intern at their job and hes the sweetest and brightest kid they know. his names armin and they speak about him SO highly

- also has a really cold nose ?? u love to kiss it bc it makes them shiver bc of the temperature difference

- has weirdly soft hands. youd think theyd be kinda rough bc of all the weird shit they touch for "science" but no. the hands are perfect

- doesnt know how to take care of things around the house (like handy stuff) so they beg levi to come over.

- he reluctantly does bc hes their friend but will nod at you as soon as he walks in and says "i hope hange isnt being too annoying today"

- immediately youll defend them and say zoe hange could never annoy you bc hange is the love of ur life and all he'll do is say "youre lucky then. i envy you."

- you and hange both know hes using his dry humour, but as punishment hange follows him around the place and annoys him even further

- also tries to convince you to get a dog at the weirdest of times ???

- itll be three in the morning and theyll just whisper in your ear "we should get a dog"

- theyre allergic to cats so if you suggest that they say "no ill die if i go near one"

- if youre allergic to dogs theyll say "okay fine a baby then"

- "how will we get one ?"

- "we'll steal it. or go looking through a dumpster"

- what did they say 😳😳⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️

- you shut down any ideas of a dog or baby for a long while after that

- loves squeezing your cheeks, and would love if you did it to them too

- will literally just sit in bed squishing them and request you do the same. so you both just sit facing each other criss crossed, squishing each others faces while giggling

- ive made this pretty long already so this is it ! but yes, they love u through and through

a/n

second headcanon babyyy !!! hope u all enjoyed !! my asks r open if u wanna request something !! (also please request something 😭😭😭 )

[equizona]

Heya! Heard you want some requests so here's one!

Fnaf 1 group X a autistic reader (I myself is on the spectrum) that doesn't tell them in the beginning? Like the only way they found out is through their work file.

Hope you have a good nigh\day! ^.^

I am so so sorry this took so long! Tumblr deleted it the first two times I tried to do it, so here I am finally getting to post it. As another statement, I do not know a lot about autistic people. I tried to research it a bit, but I doubt I'm able to do this correctly. Though I did my best, and I hope you enjoy :)

Chica, she prioritizes trust a lot

And she believes you should tell her everything

That's why when Freddy brings your work file over, she dosen't care

But when Bonnie mentions something that catches her attention, she'll ask to look at it

And Chica will be angry

She'll feel hurt, and a fight will probabaly happen

But just let her cool down for a bit, she'll be back to apologize!

She knows some things are difficult to speak about, she herself had ADHD when she was still alive, and she never told anyone until she knew them very well

She'll bake you a pizza and a cake as an apology, and she'll ask you(calmer this time) why you never told her

Whatever reason you give her, she'll understand

Though she will make sure that you know she will never judge you about anything, and that she wants you to feel comfortable about talking with her

She'll force you backstage to watch a movie with her

And force the other animatronics to keep out much to their dismay(and Goldie's laughter)

Bonnie...well Bonnie dosen't take a lot to heart

After getting murdered, and watching all his friends be murdered before him

He's not quick to get angry, not at people he cares about atleast

So he won't care all that much that you never told him

He won't mention it before about a week after he finds out

And that will be him asking you if you trust him

He's worried you don't trust him enough to tell him

But at the same time he understands

So he won't make that much of a big deal out of it

Though he will make sure that you tell him anything he should keep a watch out for with it

He's probably the one with the calmest reaction

So there isn't a fight to worry about :)

Foxy doesn't care much

He will never tell you everything about himself, and he doesn't want to force you to tell him everything either

He's the kind of person that is okay with secrets, as long as it's not a bad secret

But he will get angry that the others were snooping in your files

Very angry

They should leave your privacy alone

He will try to fight all three of them, leaving Goldie out since Goldie won't really give a shit about your file

You're going to have to calm him down, drag him away

Though he did hear what they said, he dosen't care

It's up to you whether you wanna tell anyone about it or not

So I doubt he will ever bring it up

Freddy probably knew from the start

He likes to go through the work file of all the workers before they even start working

Just so he's prepared

Though Freddy is usally a very calm and collected person

He has a temper

And the more he starts to realize that you aren't planning on telling him?

He'll be livid

Chica and Bonnie end up getting hurt trying to keep him away from you, knowing he would regret hurting you

You'll probably have to lock yourself in the security office until he calms down

The pizzeria ends up closing thanks to Freddy breaking things in the pizzeria

They'll also be very confused when you say everything was fine when you left

Though, when your back on work after they've fixed everything up?

He'll feel so guilty, and be apologizing the second you step a foot into the building

He'll feel so guilty he tried to hurt you, and that he hurt Foxy, Bonnie and Chica, Along with ruining the dining room

He'll be very apologetic for the next week or so

Use it to your advantage, make him get you pizza or give you cuddles

Though he'll be back to normal after a few days

He won't bring it up again though

He feels to bad, but he won't be against talking about it if you bring it up

So no worries, you can talk to him about it if you want to, or let it die

Up to you :)

And then there is our lovely golden boy

Who honestly won't care that much

He'll get kinda angry, and intimidate you to speak

But he won't hurt anyone or start an actual fight like Freddy and Foxy did

And he's less hurtful in his words than Chica was

But Goldie is scary

Very scary

Though when he has his answer on why you never told him?

His reaction will depend on your answer

Your scared he would hate you?

Cuddle session

You just didn't want to tell him?

He'll drop it for the rest of eternity

Though he will end up apologizing for scaring you

Don't bring it up he'll get super flustered and hide away XD

[witchofrvnswood]

a thorough rant on why i despise awwp // part 1

TRIGGER WARNING: EATING DISORDERS, FATSHAMING, AND BAD BODY IMAGE ARE DISCUSSED IN A LATER SECTION OF THE POST

It’s been a long time coming guys,,,

But here it is.

I don’t know how this is going to end but it won’t be pretty.

So, AWWP is the sequel to SGE, a book in which the author claims he addresses themes such as feminism, girls vs boys, and what not. 

I feel like the book fails on many counts and does not even follow what Soman Chainani has described it as and intended it to be.

The first part of this rant will be centered around the themes of this book. The next part will touch on the plot and some of the characters in this book.

Let’s dissect this, shall we?

Toxic Feminism

God, this one drove me beyond insanity and is probably the worst plot point this book has to offer. I don’t even get what the author achieved by writing this ?? Instead of showing girls being progressive and realizing their true individual power and potential after an entire school year of being told they were objects and being trained to be beautiful and submissive to buys, he decides to show extreme feminism where girls just disown anything, ANYTHING that relates to femininity. 

Of course they don’t have to wear makeup. Of course they don’t need long, luscious locks. But to claim that girls only have these assets to impress boys is sexism in itself. “Third, we debeautified makeup as a pawn of patriarchy designed entirely to attract men,” the teacher went on.” Not to mention, Evelyn Sader, the woman pushing this agenda, isn’t following any of these rules herself and is running this sexist school while trying to trap two teenage girls just to get a man’s favor ??? What ?????

And of course. The whole enslaving boys thing. So many people falsely believe that feminism is about hating boys and that girls are supreme which is why so many people scoff at it. Because if this is the way feminism is being represented in media, in a CHILDRENS’ book, of course people are going to misunderstand it! This puts such a bad name on feminism and is just downright insulting to everything the feminist movement has worked for and now the author is pushing this idea into young children and teens. 

This entire book is set up to tell the readers that girls cannot be independent because they’ll end up enslaving men which cannot happen because they need men and can’t live without them! This idea is even pushed by Hester, HESTER of all people, who is said to hate boys. The way she says it makes absolutely no sense to her character whatsoever. ““Shut up,” Hester boomed, spinning back to Agatha. “No one likes boys! Even girls who like boys can’t stand boys! They smell, they talk too much, they mess up everything, and they always have their hands in their pants, but that doesn’t mean we can go to school without them! It’s like stymphs without bones! It’s like witches without warts! Without boys, LIFE HAS NO POINT!” 

What,,, why,,,, why would you make Hester say something to that effect ? She basically said that girls need boys to function and that “their lives are pointless without boys”. I’m sorry,,, I just,,,, guys, I lost it at that point. Take a shot every time this book makes me lose brain cells, much?? :p

The ending really defines this theme in this book. The last book ended with two girls choosing each other and this book went on and on about how that was WRONG, how only a girl and boy could be together. And then this book ends with a girl and a boy choosing each other and now that is supposedly “the right ending”. We know it’s not from Book 3, but does what’s said and done in Book 3 even matter since they ended up together anyways??

Overall, I just,,, I just don’t know where Soman was going with this. I just don’t. He doesn’t seem like an anti feminist but I feel like what he does is, he takes a controversial issue, puts his own problematic spin on it, tries to write it as overdramatic and satirical and just ends up writing a really close minded take on it which ends up affecting his readers, whose age demographic is usually 8-12.

He means well, he really does, and I know that. But he needs to step up his game. I honestly don’t know why his editor, who is a woman, let him publish awful messages like these,,, maybe he’s really convincing? We know he can’t take criticism though (*cough* instagram live *cough*)

But this leads to my next point: The body image messages in this book.

Body Image

TRIGGER WARNING: I DISCUSS GLORIFIED EATING DISORDERS, FATSHAMING, BAD BODY IMAGE, ETC. IF ANY OF THESE ARE TRIGGERS FOR YOU OR MAKE YOU UNCOMFORTABLE, STOP READING. THE RANT ENDS AFTER THIS SECTION.

Whew wee, where do I start. 

Here is another example of how Soman’s self claimed satire goes way too far and ends up being destructive.

The way the Evergirls are looked down upon by Sophie and Agatha for starting to eat more and not care about their weight or beauty is appalling to me. Sophie has always prioritized looks, which makes sense for her character to be disgusted by the Evers (not okay though!) but Agatha’s disgust makes no sense. This girl refused to take showers or brush her hair just a year ago, so I don’t know why she’s so disgusted by the Evergirls carelessness of their appearance.

Reena is even described with clear disgust in the book about how she had acquired a large bottom by eating chocolate and even candy is found repulsive by Sophie and Professor Anemone and the judgement they show towards the Evergirls for eating these is just awful. This message is really destructive and choosing whether or not to consume sweets is every individual’s own decision. Adding in the idea that eating sweets will make you gain lots of weight to your book is so harmful to young minds. And writing about how the protagonists, who the characters the readers look up to, are disgusted by girls putting on weight is horrible.

But the biggest victim of this theme is Dot. Dot, who was bullied endlessly for being overweight in the previous book. Dot, who somehow lost so much weight over the course of nine months that she went from being rotund to skinny with hour glass curves.

Okay, let’s break this down: there is no way, absolutely no way, that a person can lose THAT much weight in less than a year and still be healthy. Dot was not shown to have any health problems. When explaining how she had done this, she claimed she was “hungry all the time” and was solely snacking on vegetables such as carrots or celery. She further claimed that all of this was “worth it” as she is now popular and has a great social life.

I’m not,,,, I can’t even,,,, this. This is what you call glorifying an eating disorder. Are you going to read that above paragraph and tell me that people won’t feel inspired by Dot? That a self conscious girl won’t read about Dot’s “amazing” weight loss story and how “amazing” her life is after becoming skinny is not going to feel jealous and most likely try something to that affect,,,, I,,,, Soman, WHERE is your tact?

This is so disgusting and I am so sorry to anyone who was affected by this. If you don’t know, there was a movement of sorts on Instagram where the sge fans confronted Soman for how his way of writing eating disorders and weight problems seriously affected them and ended up making them self conscious or develop their own eating disorders.

This is all made worse by the fact that he just laughed it off, said he wrote it for humor, and was offended we even accused him of writing bad body image into his stories because he’s been teased for being skinny before.

This book has the worst problems with body image and glorifying eating disorders. This itself is enough to ruin the book for me.

Dot is a kind and humble character who’s only addressed in the story through her weight, it’s made into such a big plot point in her character arc, her weight and how she gets bullied for it, or how skinny she is, and what she did to get there. Her entire character is defined by her body and that is not okay.

This book did her and the other Evergirls so much injustice and it is so upsetting.

I would like to say this is it for the rant, but no, there are a lot more qualms I have with this book, ahaha :/

Stay tuned for Part 2: my issues with the characters in the books :)

[raiseyourcups]

Cabur

Chapter 11

Pairing: Din Djarin x Original Female Character (Aili Verdella) Warnings: canon-typical violence, implication of slavery, minor character death, mentions of blood, mention of vomiting but no actual vomiting, cursing, probably incorrect canon regarding bacta spray, touch-starved characters, finally get some of Aili’s backstory, mentions of sex but in a teasing way Word Count: 4.7k (oops) Also on AO3

Masterlist

Summary: Fennec Shand tries to free herself by talking to Toro, Aili tries to get her to shut up, Mando is taking forever to get back. The suns start rising which is when everything goes sideways for everyone

Note: Double update today because I'm tired of Tatooine and the prison break is where things get fun anyway

The suns were beginning to rise and Aili was now crossing into the dangerous territory of both exhaustion and hunger, having not slept while waiting for Mando to get back. The first day was always the worst even with her training. People had learned to leave her alone but Toro and Fennec didn’t have that luxury right now. She wondered what the kriff was taking Mando so long because surely the dewback hadn’t made it that far from where they’d last seen it. 

“So tell me, how do a Dragon and a Mandalorian even start working together?” Fennec asked, faux curiosity tingeing her voice. A devious smile appeared on her face. “Or does he not know?”

“It’s none of your business,” Aili replied, arms crossed even as she stood in a ready stance just in case Fennec tried to make a run for it. Toro looked between the two women in confusion from his seat on his speeder. 

“Why are you calling her a dragon?”

“Because kid-”

“Shut up before I make you shut up. Permanently.” Aili threatened, leveling an even glare towards Fennec. The assassin held her cuffed hands up in surrender. 

“Look, there’s still time for me to make my rendezvous at Mos Espa. Help me get there and I can pay you all double the price on my head.” Fennec offered and even though Aili wondered if she was lying, a woman like Fennec Shand didn’t lie about credits. She just had to hope that Toro didn't fall for it.

“I don’t care about the money,” Toro said, looking away and watching as the suns kept rising. 

“So these two are keeping all of the money?”

“Only because I’m letting them.”

Fennec let out a scoff of laughter, “Are you sure about that? Mando seemed like he was calling all the shots and now the Dragon over here is doing it.”

“Yeah well I hired them. This is my job.” Toro said and Aili gave him a side glance, seeing that Fennec was trying and succeeding in getting a rise out of him. 

“Maybe don’t talk to her?” Aili suggested. 

Toro didn’t listen to Aili as he kept talking. “Bringing you in will make me a full member of the Bounty Hunter’s Guild.”

“Kid, you already have something worth far greater in value in hand, you just don’t see it.”

Aili tensed up, unsure exactly what Fennec was going to mention. Her hand slowly moved down to her holster as she stared at the assassin.

“What are you talking about?”

“The armor. The Mandalorian’s full set and her cuirass are worth more than me alone.”

“He’s not stupid though, or do you not remember how quickly I knocked you on your ass? In the dark.” Aili raised a brow at Fennec, daring her to say something. 

Toro let out a scoff, “I still don’t care about the money.” And then he went back to staring at the suns as Fennec sagged a little against the rocks before she straightened up again.

“Fine, but what about your reputation? A Mandalorian shot up the Guild on Nevarro, stole a high value target, took their best bounty hunter with him, and went rogue.”

Toro stared at Fennec for longer than Aili was comfortable with before he glanced at her for half a second. He looked back towards the horizon again. "I know what you're trying to do and it won't work," Toro finally said. Aili relaxed her stance, hand moving away from her holster.

She thought everything was over and done with now. Fennec had given up and was leaning against the rocks with resignation on her face. Probably wondering how she had been unlucky enough to have a Mandalorian team up with a Dragon. It was about as unlikely as a Jedi and a Mandalorian teaming up.

At least Aili thought she was in the clear until she saw Toro move. “Toro, what are you doing?” She asked as Toro got down from his speeder and stood next to her. He gave her a glance from the corner of his eye before moving faster than she could react. His blaster slammed down hard on her head, harder than she thought he could hit, and she fell to the ground soon after. Her eyes fluttered open and closed in slow blinks but she heard the sound of a blaster going off and she wondered if she was next. That would be a terrible way to go out, shot while unconscious by someone who wasn’t even Guild yet. 

She felt Toro put cuffs around her wrists before lifting her up and placing her on the speeder, sitting behind her to hold her up. She was out before he even started to head back to Tatooine. Her last thought was that she knew she should have told Mando this job was a terrible idea. 

                          *Run away to a place where you can breathe*

The Mandalorian let out a curse when he got back to the rocks and didn't see a speeder bike. There was also a body and his mind went blank, forgetting the differences between what Aili and Fennec were wearing. He climbed off the dewback and quickly walked over to it hoping it was Fennec. His heart was pounding as he got closer and it only calmed down when he turned it over and saw that it was Fennec. But there was no trace of Aili or Toro. He tilted his helmet to the side, he didn’t think she would just let Fennec get shot or take off with the speeder bike. 

He turned on the heat signature reader on his t-visor and his eyes narrowed when he picked up on several steps that belonged to Toro. But none from Aili. His jaw clenched knowing there were only a few reasons for not seeing a heat signature but the main one was that she didn't walk out of there. But there was also no sign of a fight. 

With one last angry look around he got back up on the dewback and made for Peli's hangar. That was the only place he could think of that Toro would go if Fennec had mentioned the kid. He just couldn't figure out what Toro was playing at, taking Aili with him. 

He made it back to Peli's after the suns went down and he pulled his blaster out of its holster. He paused for a moment before deciding to grab one of his flash charges as well, palming it as he walked into the bay as quietly as possible. 

"It's about time Mando," Toro said from the Crest before he walked out. Peli in front of him with her hands up and the Child in Toro's grasp. But still no sign of Aili. "Looks like I'm calling the shots now. Drop the blaster."

“Where is she?” Mando asked, more like growled at Toro. But he did as he demanded, tossing his blaster away and raising his hands to rest behind his helmet. 

Toro let out a chuckle. “She didn’t even put up a fight, Mando.”

Behind his helmet, the Mandalorian narrowed his eyes knowing that was a lie. He knew Aili wouldn't go down without a fight. Not when she took down Fennec Shand in hand-to-hand and not when she had taken down several raiders by herself in under five minutes back on Sorgan. She didn’t think he had seen her but he had kept her in his line of sight as best as he could while also giving Cara cover fire. 

“In fact, she asked for it when we got back to the ship,” Toro added with another laugh. He knew speaking to the Mandalorian like that was a death wish but he held all the cards at the moment. 

Mando didn't have time to address the anger he felt growing in his chest at the way Calican was talking about Aili. He prioritized killing Calican first, protecting the Child and Peli, and then he could look for Aili. She had to be nearby but incapacitated if Calican was joking about it. He watched as Toro pushed Peli forward.

"Cuff him and don't try anything funny."

Peli muttered a few curses but she did as Calican said. She came down the gangway, a pair of cuffs in her hands, and she was quickly standing behind Mando. 

As subtly as he could, the Mandalorian clinked the flash charge he still had in hand against his helmet. Peli looked up in surprise. "You're not as stupid as you look, he took her onto the ship."

She pretended to cuff him before hiding them and standing off to his side. Toro, thinking he had actually captured the Mandalorian, laughed again at the way his luck had turned. He had a high value target and two Guild traitors in hand.

"Look at you Mando, a traitor to the Guild and for what? This thing?" Toro questioned, shaking the Child a little and making Mando tense up just a little. "But I will tell you, I'm a little reluctant to just hand Aili over. You know how the Guild operates, think they'll let me keep her as payment?"

That was the last straw for Mando and he set off the flash charge before moving behind the crates off to the side. He heard Toro let off a shot or two and he hoped Peli had been smart enough to get behind something as well. He stepped out of the shadows and shot Toro in the chest before he could fully turn to face him. He watched as he fell to the ground and chest still heaving in anger, he stalked over to make sure he was dead.

Peli rushed forward as well, looking for the Child that Toro had still been holding. He could barely register her asking where the Child went but he looked around as well. Mando finally heard a small coo and he picked up the Child as he walked out from behind a couple of baskets. His eyes were wide and a little watery as he cooed and lifted a hand in the direction of the Crest. 

Mando checked over the Child before handing him over to Peli once he made sure Toro was dead with a swift kick to the man's torso and then he rushed onto the Crest. He couldn't deny that he had somehow grown used to having Aili around and on his ship, not that he would tell her that anytime soon. He would deny that he was beginning to feel anything for her, if only because it was clear she didn’t feel the same way for him.

He found her against the far wall, curly hair covering her face and wrists in cuffs like the ones Peli had been told to put on him. It was the smallest she had ever looked to him, her personality making her seem larger than her small frame. He kneeled beside her, letting out a sigh of relief when he saw her chest moving up and down in a normal rhythm. She was only unconscious. 

He was gentle as he reached out to move her hair out of her face but he immediately winced when he saw the trail of blood at her hairline. Now he knew why she hadn’t fought against Calican, he had probably coldcocked her so hard that she went down in one blow. Aili twitched at the feeling of his fingers at her scalp and she slowly started to wake up. But he was almost sure that she didn’t have a concussion. 

He moved his hands down to undo the cuffs around her wrists, wincing again when he took note of the way the skin was red. Even unconscious she had somehow tried to get out of them. He looked up at the sound of her voice.

“Mando…what happened?” Aili questioned, eyes unfocused and Mando cursed to himself as he took back his earlier assessment. She did have a concussion. A minor one but still. 

“Calican knocked you out, do you remember that?”

Aili’s eyes narrowed as she thought back to what had happened. It was slow to come back to her but it did. “He hit me and then...shot Fennec. Hut'uun.”

“Yeah well he’s dead now,” Mando said shortly. He was still pissed off at Toro implying that he would keep Aili like some kind of slave. No better than a Hutt. He was lucky that Mando had chosen to only shoot him once. 

“Good.” Aili sat there, silent for a long moment before she gasped and looked at him with panic in her eyes, her hands coming up to grip him on his arms. He was taken back by just how scared she looked. “Where’s L--the kid?”

“He’s fine, he’s with Peli.”

Her eyes were still wide as she tried to process the information through her concussion. "Oh, he’s okay. He’s fine." She kept quietly repeating it to herself like she had to convince herself that it was true. Her eyes were getting distant and Mando knew she needed bacta now. 

“But right now, you’re not,” Mando said. “Do you think you can stand up?”

“I...probably not a good idea,” Aili answered, pursing her lips before she swallowed harshly. Behind his helmet Mando cringed knowing she meant she didn’t think she could stand without throwing up.

“Okay, wait here while I go get the bacta.”

“Wouldn’t go anywhere else even if I could,” Aili said softly. Mando silently cursed to himself for two reasons; one, he was sure she was about to pass out soon and two, for the way he registered her words with a different meaning. He shook his head and rushed over to where he kept the bacta supplies.

“This is going to hurt,” Mando said once he was back at her side. That was all the warning he gave before he sprayed the bacta on the small cut to her forehead. Aili immediately let out a gasp and she moved away from the mist before it could actually cover enough of the wound to start healing it. “Stay still.”

“Ow!” Aili hissed, ducking away from Mando again, covering her head with her hands. She knew he was trying to help but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. “I can do this myself.”

“Will you just let me help you?” Mando asked, placing a firm hand on her shoulder. He didn’t expect Aili to go still and a little tense under his grip but if it meant he could get the bacta on her wound, he wasn’t going to ask questions. 

“Fine.” Aili didn’t know why Mando was being so nice to her but she wasn’t sure if she liked it or not. She silently cursed herself for even letting Toro knock her out and she cursed herself for the way she reacted to a hand on her shoulder. 

“You can-” Mando stopped himself, turning the bacta spray over in his hands as he looked down rather than at Aili. 

“What?”

“You can squeeze my arm or knee or whatever when it hurts.”

“I’m not a child, Mando,” Aili hissed out before he sprayed more bacta and her hand involuntarily went for his knee, squeezing it at the stinging pain. “Kriff, the person who came up with bacta couldn’t have made it sting less?”

"Maybe don't let someone who's not even Guild get the jump on you.” 

Aili purposely squeezed his knee harder until she heard him let out his own hiss of pain. “Don’t be an asshole.” But she sat still the rest of the time, just watching as Mando made sure he sprayed bacta across the whole wound. She hadn’t even known that Toro had hit her hard enough to break skin. Neither of them commented on the way she shuddered when he ran a hand through her hair to make sure there weren't any other areas where skin broke. Finally Mando was satisfied and he gave Aili a nod. 

“I’ll go get the kid and let Peli know we’re leaving, you might want to get the blood out of your hair before the kid sees you.”

“I was already going to do that, do you know how disgusting dry blood feels in your hair?” Aili said as she pushed herself up from the floor. She swayed a little but held her hands out to stop Mando from trying to steady her. “I’m fine, go get the Child.”

Aili didn’t wait for him to move before she headed for the ‘fresher to clean the blood out of her hair. She almost lost her step once but that was it. Mando waited until the door of the ‘fresher closed before he moved to leave the Crest again. By the time he paid Peli, keeping a few credits for them, Aili was already leaning against the wall waiting for them. She didn’t look that much better but anything was better than unconscious. 

The Child started to cry as soon as he saw her and he was reaching for her to take him. Aili quickly took him into her arms, shushing him and reassuring him that they were all fine. She followed Mando up to the cockpit, still hushing the Child as she did. 

                            *Run away to a place without painful tears*

The cockpit had been silent from the moment they jumped into hyperspace, Mando at the controls while Aili held Little Green in her arms, his head resting on her chest. He had seemed to sense that she was upset and was staying still for once. They hadn’t been in hyperspace for very long when Aili decided to break the silence. “Four of the foundlings in your Covert.”

The Mandalorian turned to look at her so fast that she was surprised his helmet didn’t go flying off. “What did you say?”

“It’s why the Armorer made me the cuirass,” Aili said as if it explained everything. She ran a finger down Little Green ’s nose, a quick, small smile crossing her face when he let out a coo and snuggled further into her embrace. He had one little hand wrapped in her hair, careful not to pull on it as he started to fall asleep to the sound of her heartbeat. 

“I don’t understand.” Mando didn’t understand how Aili knew about the foundlings or why the Armorer would use beskar on someone who wasn’t a part of the Covert or even a Mandalorian. He had always been taught that beskar belonged to them and it should only be used to enrich their people. 

“They’re, um, she calls them my ade which,” Aili paused to let out something that could almost be called a laugh. “I guess that’s what they are.” 

“But you’re not a Mandalorian,” Mando said dumbly. If they were foundlings but she wasn’t a Mandalorian...he found the thought angered him.

“Thank you for pointing out the obvious, Mando,” Aili huffed out, once again wondering how he was once considered her equal in the Guild. 

“So they just accept that you’ve abandoned them?” Even he was surprised by the harshness in his voice and he winced when Aili turned to glare at him. It was the same one she had given him on Sorgan when she found out he was planning to leave her and the kid there. But now her reaction there made a little more sense to him.  

“Do not ever say that to me again, Mando. I did not abandon them, I saved them.”

Mando wasn’t sure what it was about her statement that made his hand tighten around the arms of his chair or the way he clenched his jaw. “Being aruetti is a disservice to them.”

“You don’t know me. You don’t know what I’ve been through, how many-” Aili had to pause to calm herself down before she said something that she regretted. She looked down at Little Green in her arms, the one wanted by the same people she spent half her life accepting yet fearing at the same time. He had fallen asleep and she leaned forward to place him in his cradle, tucking his blanket around him. She hit the button to close the cradle just in case she got loud. “I spent over half my life following people I didn’t trust and while I trust your Armorer to take care of them…”

“You already follow most of the Rensol’nare so what is it? Too proud to swear the Creed and hide your face from the galaxy? Too used to using your looks to catch bounties?” Mando wasn’t sure what made him say it, maybe because if she was a Mandalorian as well this would be easier for him. He wouldn’t see her face nearly every night or maybe then he wouldn’t have had to deal with her constant state of undress back on Sorgan. Either way he pushed her.

Aili let out a sound like an angry loth cat and she shot out of her seat, caging Mando in as she gripped the arms of his seat. “Look, not everyone was lucky enough to be taken in by Mandalorians. Some of us had parents that sold them to the Empire where they were turned into obedient weapons.

“Maybe one of these weapons got tired of k--tired of seeing children killed for failing one too many times. So maybe they killed as many Imps as they could but could only get out ten children out of hundreds. And four of them had no family left so maybe finding them the next best thing was the only thing I could do.”

“I’m-”

Aili pushed away from Mando’s chair, still staring down at him with venom in her eyes and voice. “The Krayt Program was and still is the Empire’s best kept secret and I only took out one base. So yes, Madsin, Sula, Jaesa and Shaeli are my responsibility but the way I live is not how I want them to grow up. The Armorer and I both agreed about that so they were to be raised as foundlings.”

The Mandalorian took a moment, swallowing hard even though Aili couldn’t see it, before he tilted his helmet slightly in thought. He didn’t know the foundlings very well, never at the Covert long enough between jobs, but he knew about those four. Even knew them by name. Had heard others talk about how they had just shown up on day, the older two already skilled at fighting, but they had no buir. The Armorer had made it clear that they would not have one, that they had a sponsor that would provide for them. 

“You’re their sponsor.” He stated more than asked, he wasn’t wrong. Nothing else would make sense, otherwise the Armorer wouldn’t call them her ade.

“Yes,” Aili sighed, finally moving to settle back down into her own seat. She took another breath to calm herself down more. “I see them as often as I can.”

“But what do they think about you not swearing the Creed?” 

“Shaeli and Jaesa are still too young to really know what it would mean to take the Creed or not. Sula has already said that she wants to train as a medic after her verd’goten, she’s done with fighting.” 

Mando was a little surprised that one was willing to go through the verd’goten despite planning to be a medic. He supposed everyone had to in order to be seen as an adult. But Aili had said four names. “And the last one?”

A wry smile crossed Aili’s face. “Madsin understands the most why I can’t take it. She was one of the first ones I trained who didn’t--she just knows how much I went through at their age and how much I tried to shield them from.” 

“And does she plan to take the Creed?” 

“She does, she already went through her verd’goten but asked to wait until she turns seventeen to take the Creed.”

“Why?” Mando was shocked that the Armorer had allowed it although it hadn’t been unheard of. 

“She was taken from Corellia, the age of adulthood there is seventeen and since it’s one of the few things she remembers of her home planet…”

It made sense to the Mandalorian. He hadn’t cared when he took the Creed at 13, it was all he had at the time. He had lost everything and the Mandalorians had taken him in with open arms. “How old were they when you brought them to the Covert?”

“Madsin was twelve, Sula had, um, she had just turned eight. I had to carry Shaeli and Jaesa for hours after we landed on Nevarro, they were only three and two but so small for their ages.” Aili recalled that day crystal clear. How it had taken them so long to reach the city that she almost thought she had made it up in her head. 

“How old were you?” Mando asked. He couldn’t picture how old she had been or even how old she was now. She had said she was with the Empire for over half her life but if the oldest child had been 12...he couldn’t imagine Aili letting herself be used as a weapon for them for that long. 

“I was old enough that I could have stopped it before they took Madsin.” She hated herself a little more every time she was reminded of how she had let the Empire ruin so many people’s lives. Had let them cut so many of those lives shorter than they would have been if they had been able to stay with their families. Knowing that it had only been maybe five years so far would haunt her every day. 

“How old are you now?” Mando asked, stupidly asking for two reasons. He only hoped that Aili couldn’t see through to him and his second motive. 

“If this is you making sure it’s okay think about fucking me…”

“What-I’m-no,” Mando stuttered over his words, not even sure what he was trying to say in response to Aili’s bluntness. He felt warmth on his face and wondered if it was too late to just say goodnight and head down to the cot. But then he remembered that it was Aili’s night and he couldn’t just leave now or she’d know that she was right. 

Aili laughed loudly, knowing that Mando hadn’t been expecting that. “I’m joking, Mando. I’m 34...or 32, I’m not actually sure.”

Mando cleared his throat before asking a new question, ignoring the way his heart sped up knowing that he wasn’t much older than Aili. It had been easier when he thought she was younger than that. “How do you not know how old you are?”

“They didn’t really start keeping records until 20 BBY and by then they forgot exactly when I got there so they marked it down as either 25 or 23 BBY.” Aili shrugged, it didn’t really bother her. She knew she was in her 30s which was all that really mattered. “You?”

“29 BBY.” 

Aili let a smile cross her face. “I knew we were almost the same age, now you can stop treating me like a kid.”

Mando was silent until her tilted his helmet to the side, “You’re still as short as I was when I was thirteen.”

“Do you want to fight? Because I will drag you down to the cargo hold and kick your ass.” Aili threatened but not as heated as her usual threats were when aimed towards him. 

“You did enough of that on Sorgan.”

“Ego still hurting from that?” Aili laughed, the earlier mood forgotten. “I’m going to bed before you try to ask any more stupid questions.” 

She laughed once more before opening the cradle and taking Little Green out so he could lay with her. Mando didn’t comment on how she couldn’t have left the Child but he held back even as he watched as she left the cockpit and kept staring long after her figure disappeared down into the cargo area. He spent the rest of the night processing everything that Aili had told him about herself but before he fell asleep in his chair, he realized that she had stumbled over her words twice. She had stopped herself from saying something and then she had to take a moment when she mentioned the one child being 8.

[fuckingthefictional]

Secret Shelby.

Finn Shelby x Reader

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holidays or happy-whatever-you-may-celebrate.

Here’s a crap fic that’s way too long, and half of it is probably gibberish- but hey enjoy!

“Where the fuck is Finn?”

The clock ticked teasingly- it made Arthur more annoyed. By waiting around they were losing time that could be spent working. Or more importantly, getting drunk.

The air was thick with tension. And all of the Shelby’s and the rest of the Blinders were growing increasingly impatient with the youngest brother. He had yet to make an appearance and it frustrated the eldest Shelby to no end.

If there was one thing that the Shelby family expected with the business they owned, it was to be on time- everyone knew that the Shelby’s hated tardiness and the fact that Finn hadn’t shown up was pushing them all into a state of annoyance.

“I said where the fuck is Finn?” Arthur asked again, not particularly asking anyone directly.

“I’ve not seen ‘im.” Isaiah replied from the column he was leant on.

Tommy took an inhale of his cigarette and swilled the whiskey around the glass it was contained in.

“If Isaiah doesn’t know Arthur, then I have no fuckin’ clue. If you’re that bothered about the lad then go and find him.” Smoke blew from his mouth, “Until then, we’re going to talk business like real businessmen.”

—

That same morning on the other side of Small Heath, Finn Shelby was tucked up in bed. His arms wrapped around his loves small frame.

You were still fast asleep-you were tired what from being up most of the night in discomfort.

Finn, however, found himself marveling at his girl’s belly, the skin was stretched taut over the swollen bump. It cradled the baby that had yet to be born.

The young Shelby rubbed a circle into the skin with a rough hand across the top of the bump. The movement obviously had caught the attention of his unborn child because soon after he could feel the small jolts and jabs against his palm.

The action brought a smile to his face but subsequently caused you to groan and hiss in pain.

He’d forgotten how sensitive your belly had become in the weeks leading up to delivery. The doctors had said, that because of your small, adolescent frame- it gave the baby less room to move around comfortably.

Finn knew you’d do anything for your baby to be comfy and safe within your body though, so you had proclaimed that if it meant a few days of discomfort and pain then so be it.

“You okay?” Finn mumbled into your messy hair, “do you need anything love?”

You had to smile at his offer. Ever since you’d become pregnant, Finn had been home a lot more. You hadn’t expected it (not that you weren’t thankful and grateful for it), you knew how much family meant to him- how much the business meant to him. How much proving himself to his brothers meant to him.

When you brought it up with him though, he just claimed that “You’re my family now. You and our little bean.”

“Love?”

You were brought out of your thoughts to see Finn looking worried.

You caressed his cheek, “just hold us.”

He slowly pressed a long kiss to your hairline and then proceeded to wrap his arms around as much of your waist as he could reach.

“What do you think they’ll look like?”

The thought caused you to smile softly, “I hope he looks just like you. With your curly red hair and freckles.”

Finn chuckled into the crook between your shoulder and neck, “so it’s a he huh?” I stroked the bump lovingly, “I think it’s going to be a little girl- a spitting image of her mother.”

The idea of the baby being here made you both sick with nerves but also full of joy and excitement.

Pregnancy was a new concept for both of you, especially considering you were both only 17.

But you were so glad that Finn had stuck with you for the duration of your pregnancy.

He never missed an appointment and constantly talked to the small baby that grew inside of you. He’d even tried to take up knitting, Finn had managed to make a scruffy looking bobble hat for when the baby arrived. It looked crap- but you appreciated it all the same.

Children, however, were a different story. Finn had obviously been in charge of looking after his nieces and nephews in the time when his brothers were abroad fighting.

And he still occasionally did it whenever Esme or John needed a spare hand.

And you were known to babysit and tutor children around Small Heath. You were one of the few genuinely liked people in town.

You weren’t judgemental and were willing to help others- and as much as the Small Heath inhabitants didn’t want to admit they were thankful.

The idea of your own bundle of joy was different. You’d both held and cared for babies that belonged to someone else- and the idea that this child growing inside of you was your responsibility made you anxious.

But you and Finn and soon the baby had each other and that was all that mattered.

//

“Mum?” The soft knock from the entryway of the office caused Polly to look up from the books she had been poured over minutes previously.

Micheal walked in and took a seat in front of his mother.

“What’s the matter, sweetheart?”

Micheal frowned slightly, he didn’t know whether he was reading too much into this.

“I’m worried about Finn.” His face conveyed serious stature though as his mother looked up at him from behind thick lashes.

“And why is that?”

“Because I haven’t seen him in days.” He licked his lips, “He hasn’t been at the betting den, or the garrison, his apartment is empty every time I check. For fuck's sake he hasn’t even shown his face at the family meetings.”

Micheal shifted in his seat, “Him not showing up to family meetings is not normal. When has Finn ever missed out on a chance to prove himself?”

Polly stubbed out her cigarette into the ashtray, she looked as if she were thinking hard for a solution.

“I’ll bring it up with Tommy, truth be told I’m worried too. Finn has never been gone this long without calling, writing or even just visiting.” Her hand brushed some stray hairs out of her face, “I agree, it’s not like him.”

//

You didn’t understand how you had grown so big in the last week. You knew you were entering your 38th week and that you were coming into the area of potential delivery dates.

Finn had put you in bed rest and was adamant that it would stay that way until the baby arrived.

Some of the ladies from around town had been keeping you company, their children presenting you with hand-me-downs from when they themselves had been babes.

Staying in bed was nice for the first day or so- but then your pregnancy hormones kicked in and you couldn’t help but feel smothered and miss the absence of using your muscles.

You hated bed rest- but you knew it soothed Finn knowing that his two loves were tucked up and safe in bed.

You knew Finn had been avoiding his family like the plague, he still did jobs that paid the bills and kept money coming in. But whenever he saw his brothers- he’d only speak a few sentences around them.

He’d gotten a right bollocking from Tommy, saying that he needed to prioritize his family over whatever he had been so occupied with.

So that’s what he did, he focused on his new family. He still spoke to his Aunt Poll and occasionally Micheal and Isaiah.

But you were beginning to get frustrated with your boyfriend. You knew that his absence in the Shelby family was hurting them, and doing more harm than good.

It hurt Finn as well as much as he didn’t want to admit. These were the brothers that practically raised him. The boys that taught him everything he knew. The boys that shaped him into the person he was now.

And that had been why you’d persuaded him to go out to the Garrison for the evening- just him and his family (plus Isaiah).

At the time you’d thought it was a great idea, you just forgot one detail. You were heavily pregnant and due anytime soon.

And of course, the baby chose the only time that their father was out to try and make an appearance.

—

Finn walked into the pub, the smoky air and rowdiness of the patrons made Finn feel at home.

Considering he had been coming to the Garrison since he was a young lad, he had become used to the behaviour from the drinkers that spent their time in the pub.

He shouldered the door to the private room, and there sat his brothers, cousin, and Isaiah.

“Oi, Oi who’s this?” John’s cocky voice chirped from the corner of the booth.

“I don’t know mate,” Arthur shot back, “looks like a stranger to me.”

“Shut up.” Finn grumbled back, rolling his eyes.

Finn sat down next to Isaiah, who in turn passed over a cigarette.

The next hour was spent playing cards, they were all completely aware of how uncomfortable the youngest Shelby was. Finn kept looking towards the door, tapping his foot anxiously.

Tommy finally spoke up, “Where’ve you been then, aye Finn?”

“Y’know out and about.”

Tommy and Arthur shared a look, “You know that’s not what I meant Finn.”

Finn was glaring at his older brothers now, he knew that they wouldn’t give up until they had every piece of information.

That was until Harry knocked on the hatch and claimed that there was a phone call for Finn

He abruptly rose from his seat and slammed the door upon exiting.

He picked up the receiver that the barman was holding for him.

“Hello?”

“Finn!”

“Y/N- what’s wrong?”

There was a pause and he could hear your harsh pants through the line.

“Y/N/N?”

“The baby-“ there was more wincing from your end, “The baby is coming.”

“Shit.”

“Just get fucking home now! For fuck sake.”

With a last few reassurances, he put the phone back onto the holder. Finn turned only to see a small crowd comprised of his older brothers.

Finn started to push past them but was stopped by hands on his shoulders.

“I need to go.”

“Not until you tell us where you’re going.”

He was starting to get angry, “For fuck's sake Tommy- let me go!” He broke free and started to break into a sprint.

His lungs were on fire and his legs burnt but Finn continued the pace all the way back to where his girl was waiting.

What he failed to notice was his brothers tailing him in the family car.

—

You were hunched over panting harshly, grasping onto the mattress with white knuckles.

You knew labour was bad- but you didn’t expect it to be this bad. The rippling pain was intense and you hadn’t expected the process to be this quick.

The ladies at the hospital had said that a first-time labour would be a slow process- evidently, that wasn’t the case.

“Come on baby, work with me- at least wait for yer father, yeah?” You mumbled to the empty room.

Another contraction struck your body causing you to yell out in pain.

“Y/N/N?”

It was Finn.

“Bedroom!” Was the only reply you could muster.

A few seconds later your boyfriend rushed into the room, he immediately knelt down to your level and slowly kneaded the bottom of you back.

You let out a few more groans- your belly felt tight. It was almost as if the contractions were seizing your entire body and you could feel a harsh pressure urging you to push.

You found yourself grasping Finn’s shoulder, “I need you to check...I can feel something.”

Finn just gawked at you, speechless. However seeing you in pain, he did as he was told.

And low and behold there was what looked like the top of a head.

“Baby’s coming now, love.”

You grunted in response, as he helped you up onto the stripped mattress.

And then the door flew off of its hinges, and in strolled the Shelby brothers.

Finn seemed to be in as much shock as you were.

His shouts of anger rang out, as you groaned again and again.

At this point you were in a lot of pain and all you wanted was privacy and rest. And to have this fucking child out of your body.

“Did you invite the entirety of fucking Birmingham to witness this!” You screamed, hands finding their way to the metal bed frame which was situated behind you. The men just stared on- seemingly speechless.

“GET OUT!”

They scarpered from the room, saying something about “fetching Aunt Pol”

You didn’t care anymore, you’d given up trying to be rational and following the instructions that had been given at the hospital to you months prior.

If your body wanted to push, then you’d bloody well listen.

Finn had placed warm water, towels and a blanket on the bedside table. He then proceeded to climb behind you and press soft kisses to your sweaty brow.

“Finn I need to push.” You announced, “this baby isn’t waiting for anyone else.”

You could feel him nod behind you, “what can I do to help?”

The words would have been sweet if you weren’t too busy pushing a human out of you.

“Hold my knees back.”

He complied, and you felt your knees raise up to your chest.

And then- you began to push.

It felt like an eternity, but then you felt a release and heard it. You heard a high pitched scream, and a kick to your thighs.

The baby was here.

You looked up at Finn, who was teary-eyed and slowly reached down where your hands met the small body of your daughter.

By the time you sat back up with the baby cradled in your arms, Finn had a pair of scissors in his hand, he cut the cord and then began to clean the baby with the towel that was previously laid out.

You reached for the soft blanket that had belonged to Finn as a baby and wrapped the newborn up carefully.

“She’s perfect.”

You nodded in agreement, “she has your nose.” You smiled widely and stroked the small baby’s nose gently. The action caused the baby’s face to scrunch up- which in turn caused the young parents to laugh and smile in awe.

Finn softly kissed your temple and whispered sweet nothings to you, as you just leant back into his embrace.

The birth was finally catching up with you. You were so tired, and you soon felt yourself drift off into a deep slumber.

Finn took the baby into his arms and gently lifted her down into the bassinet, she mewled in protest to being put down.

The thought made him smile, the fact that his baby was already attached to his parents.

He proceeded to lift the sheets and blankets over your body, giving you warmth while you slept.

Finn then once again enveloped his baby girl into his arms, as he held her up against his chest.

He didn’t know he could be so capable of loving someone like this.

The quiet bliss was soon broken as Polly and Ada burst into the room each of their arms held bags.

“Aunt Pol?”

“What’s the bloody hell is going on?” Polly ranted on, “Your brothers said-“ The older woman stopped mid-sentence as the baby let out a little squeak. Almost as if she were announcing her presence.

“Aunt Pol, Ada- I’d like you to meet the newest member of the Shelby family. this is Theiadora Elizabeth Shelby. Theia for short.”

Polly looked close to tears and the younger of the two women gasped.

“You named ‘er after mum?”

Finn nodded in response.

“And this,” he motioned to your sleeping figure, “is my girl, Y/N.”

Finn just looked towards the two most important people in the world. He softly stroked his child’s face as he bent down to kiss her face.

“Welcome to the Shelby family, Theia.”

—

It was a few days later, both you and the baby were doing good. Finn barely put Theia down, it was evident that even at a few days old- she was a complete daddy’s girl.

Which you found completely unfair considering what your body had put up with for her to even be here.

But you soon got over the minor bitterness that you had felt ,when you woke up to the sight of your boyfriend cradling Theia’s small body and vowing to always protect her.

You’d gotten close to the Shelby ladies in the past few days too. Polly brought fresh food round every few mornings and usually stayed for a cup of tea if Finn was around.

And then there was the Shelby sister, though you had only known Ada for a few days, she’d become your biggest supports next to Finn.

She’d try and come over everyday, bringing her son, Karl with her.

You were thankful for her presence and she made you feel reassured, like you actually knew what you were doing.

Finn had told you that it was because Ada had been in the same boat as you, that she too had been a young mum.

But you knew it was only a matter of time until you were officially introduced to the Shelby family. So when Ada turned up to you and Finns home, you were understandably taken by surprise.

“Ada, is this really necessary?” You asked as you cradled the small baby in your arms. Theia was snoozing and even at a few days old she produced little snores like her father did.

Ada just continued to pin back your hair, “Yes, you have to meet my brothers. So does little Theia.” She paused, sensing your uneasiness, “It’ll go smoothly Y/N, Finn would never put you or Thee into harms way.”

Her words soothed your queries about this introduction. She was right. Finn had promised to protect you both from harm.

And you knew he wasn’t one to break a promise.

—

Finn had already gone to Polly’s house to help set up for dinner- as he knew that the others wouldn’t.

It also gave him time to explain to Polly about why he had kept his girls a secret (Which she had been quite furious about.)

“Why didn’t you tell me? This family does not keep secrets.”

Finn didn’t have an answer to that, he just shrugged.

“How long have you been together”

“Nearly two years.”

The questions kept coming

“Where did you meet?”

“She was tutoring Katie with Maths, I walked into the kitchen and found ‘em doin’ algebra.”

This went on for some time, until Polly finally asked.

“Do you love her?”

“More than anything.”

The sweet conversation was interrupted by the boisterous banter between his older brothers.

John grinned at him, seemingly proud that he finally knew the secret that his younger brother had been keeping to himself.

“How’s fatherhood treating you, Aye Finn?”

Polly smacked her nephew around the head, “Mother and baby are healthy- If you must know.”

“And what are their names?” Tommy’s cool, calculating voice queried from the stairwell.

“The-“

“Theia Elizabeth Shelby.” A female voice beat Finn to the answer. Looking up he saw you holding the baby in your arms, Ada and Karl next to you. “And I’m Y/N Y/L/N.”

You walked over to where Finn was situated and he wrapped his arms around your middle. The tiny baby in your arms was snoozing, and like her father when asleep, had no intention of waking up for a while.

The other Shelby’s looked on as Finn doted on his girls, making sure that they had made the trip safely and asking about other minor details that Tommy, John and Arthur would never have thought to ask their ladies.

“You look familiar.”

You looked over to see who had spoken, John sat on one of the rickety kitchen chairs, starring inquisitively at you.

“Where’ve I seen you before?”

Ada smacked her brother across the back of his head, this caused a yelp to arise from the man.

“‘the fuck was that for?”

Ada just rolled her eyes, “She’s not from a whorehouse if that’s what you’re thinking John.”

The comment didn’t go unnoticed by Finn, who’s face had flushed in anger at the idea of John possibly trying to call the mother of his child a whore.

You laid a hand on his shoulder, “I used to tutor some of your children. Help ‘em with school work or any stuff they may have missed out on.”

Tommy spoke up from his spot in the kitchen, “so you’re a teacher, aye?”

You blinked, “No, I just tutor and occasionally look after children from around the area.”

“Is it good pay?”

You were once again taken aback, “Pardon?”

Tommy repeated himself, “I said is it good pay?”

You couldn’t quite see what the outcome of this conversation was, but you could see the cogs moving in his head.

You cleared your throat, “I don’t get paid Mr Shelby, I do it all voluntarily.” You stared at him blankly, “A lot of the families around Small Heath don’t have the money to pay me for what I do. Besides I’ve always said that support from others shouldn’t come at a price.”

Polly and Ada nodded approvingly, while Finn just looked at you with adoration.

“‘ow old are you then.” John popped up this time.

“I’m-“

“She’s 17, seven months younger than me.” Finn quipped, curling a few strands of your hair around his fingers.

“And how long ‘ave you been with our Finn?”

“Just over two years.” You answered the questions.

“Where’d you grow up, I don’t recall seeing you around Small Heath?”

“I-“

“Bloody Hell boys,” Ada huffed as she set Karl down on the small armchair in the corner of the room, “What is this? An interrogation?”

You shot Ada a thankful look, the questions were beginning to make you feel slightly overwhelmed and out of your depth.

The slumbering babe in your arms began to squirm around, as she started to awaken. Theia let out a small series of yawns, before her face scrunched up and her eyes slowly opened.

The whole room fell into a hushed silence as they watched in awe.

“She has your eyes Finn, lad.” Arthur spoke from his position by the mantle.

“Yeah, she’s pretty perfect.” He replied.

Tommy stepped forwards glass of gin in his grasp, “Aye well let’s say a toast to the newest Shelby!”

They all raised a glass and together chanted in tandem, “to the newest Shelby.”

You looked up to the Shelby you had fallen in love with all those years ago- he pressed a kiss to your lips.

Life felt good- life was good.

[yandere-sins]

Oh my goodness - no need to worry if part three lived up to the others, it did so and MORE in my opinion!! Watching reader’s mindset change with the introduction of sex to their circumstance is so sickeningly fascinating - the bargaining and denial, the attempts to claim agency or security, the heart-dropping realization and regret as they’re about to fuck osamu - and yet they press forward anyway because what else is there?? You portray the back and forth conflict of reader’s thoughts so well, it’s so easy to understand their reasoning and empathize with their horror (and other feelings... 👀) You make the deterioration of their will seem so reasonable, like the natural progression of things, and that’s almost as terrifying as the twins themselves here (by which I mean, your writing is so fucking good for making me think and feel this way holy shit)

God speaking of the twins, where to even start with osamu... I am a bit biased since he’s my favourite, but I love the way you’ve characterized him here. It’s such a natural extension of his personality into this unnatural scenario - the restraint applied to himself, the correction of his twin’s behaviour as a way to regulate his own, yet the undeniable fact that he’s just as hungry, that for all their dissimilarities they are no different when it comes to pursuing what they love. There’s just so much to examine in his behaviour and thought process - his distrust of reader coupled with how easily he ended up crumbling to them (and his own suppressed desires), how he hopes they’ll be the one to restrain him, how he recognizes the immorality of it all and tries to be responsible to mitigate the damage (and his guilt), yet refuses to truly fix any of it - he’s so contradictory and complicated and I love it. There’s something to be said for atsumu’s shameless embracing of sin, but I personally love seeing the struggle in osamu, how he’s also slowly breaking down like reader and giving in after being so careful for so long. His desperation and repressed feelings being released and shown so clearly was just... 🥺 too bad that’s exactly what reader doesn’t want LOL.

Oh but let’s not forget how incredibly hot the spicy bits were!! I don’t even know what to say, Osamu being contradictory again in prioritizing reader’s pleasure but ultimately just doing what he wants (actually, perhaps he wasn’t prioritizing them but just wanted to taste them?? Or a mix of both like how reader has so many competing motives-) the first stroke oh my god, the thickness and how he doesn’t wait... the fact that reader came two strokes in 🥵 the position change 🥵 the roughness 🥵 the fact that he ALSO CAME INSIDE SKDNSK- again, I’m satisfied cause he’s my favourite but I totally get why atsumu got all outraged LMAO. especially with Osamu being so smug about making reader come twice 😳

Okay but reader saying welcome home though 🥺 ugh the confliction... whether it was to deter more fights or just a post-orgasm fluke, I feel like these small signs of acceptance/affection are going to encourage and embolden the twins just as much as the sex. OH and I can’t believe I didn’t talk about this yet but OSAMU’S BLUSHES AND RESPONSE TO READER’S HUG WERE SO CUTE- the tickling and his smile when reader laughed!! And his smile again after they fucked 😭 if only you hadn’t kidnapped them samu, maybe this could have been a sweet romance. Alas, he did, and as cute as it is that he’s softened, it probably means his self-restraint is weakened too - all because of that small gesture of affection (and what followed ofc aha). what happens once the overseer is done with just watching, never acting...? Poor reader, please enjoy your peaceful nap while it lasts 💔

Gosh, this all feels like the tip of the wedge, like the three of them are on the edge about to spiral further down into each other - and honestly, I am enthralled by it!! You did such an amazing job with this fic and with this series overall. Ah, but rereading the author’s note- I’m sorry you weren’t in a good place before/while writing this :( I really hope things are better for you now, or that they will be soon. I truly appreciate all the work you’ve put into this, and the skill with which you did. Thank you so much, take care, and I hope you have an amazing day ❤️

Wow! You absolutely blew me away (also, someone please tell me how the fuck you guys are writing these long and formatted asks???????)!! Like honestly I woke up at night and saw someone sent an ask and I started reading and couldn’t go back to sleep because I was all giddy and happy, omg, you are really amazing! Thank you so much for your time and support to type this all out ♥

I am so relieved I was able to show the process of thinking and changing in the reader since that isn’t always easy for me to describe as a non-native speaker! In a way I know what I want to say but it comes out like toddler’s speech :’D I am really glad it was understandable and reasonable for you to read, that helps me a lot to estimate future projects ♥

Thank you for going so thoroughly into Osamu’s (and by continuation also Atsumu’s) character! I think personalization is a strong point I have and I just love thinking about how to take the traits (strong/weak points and fears and all of it) a character has and turn it into a yandere personality, so I try to really pull from their canon verse and use it for my stories for reasoning and actions they take!

And ooh, I see you read between the lines! Yes, the initial idea was that Osamu was just having a taste of them, since you know, he repressed his desires a lot and now he has the chance to get it all! However, writing from a reader’s pov is always connected with not being to clear on what is going on inside the character’s head! After all, reader isn’t a mindreader and thus wouldn’t exactly be able to know it. But I can hint and sprinkle some ideas in anyway, hoping you guys will pick up on them :D Good job! I will admit that having him creampie the reader is actually a plot mistake I made... I mean call it personal preference, I just like that kink, but I only realized I used it again when I reread the story in correction and was like “Oh shit, I forgot Atsumu was fetching the morning-after pill!!” but in the end I must say it works out well because, you know, Osamu was just taking the chance, since the reader is most likely taking the pill anyway so why not be bold? Lol! Pretty sure I can work on my smexy scenes a lot more, I often think they might be too unbalanced, but I am glad if you all can still enjoy them, even if there’s a lot of space for improvement! ^-^

I TOTALLY live for those two bickering with each other tho lol! I couldn’t resist Osamu being snarky there xD

But yeah, welcoming Atsumu back home is like a free ticket to hell. You can’t just give Atsumu a finger without him taking the whole hand if you know that idiom. He’ll totally cling to every little nice thing reader does to him and insist forever that he’s the favorite twin just because they did xyz. I do feel like with Yandere, it always could have been so wholesome, if not for the yan being a psychopath xD

But yessss, like I mentioned in the previous ask, even if there’s more content following around, these three are the foundations of the reader and the two twins in a relationship. And now that abrriers are broken it can only go down down down so to say xD Thank you so much for reading and your well-wishes! I am currently not in a good place mentally which is probably why I’ll take a small break from the Fox Wedding too because for the last two chapters I want to be ready and prepared. But I am glad this story could bring you joy, it really helped me too when I was feeling at my worst, and now your ask absolutely gave me a good push to not despair in my little depression! I really appreciate your support and the time you spent on reading & writing, thank you so much for being an awesome reader ♥ I aspire to provide much more content you’ll like in the future ^-^ Stay safe & well too, my friend ♥

[watchtower-feed]

Platonic or Three

Anon: ... the reader who usually wears baggy clothes, just because they’re comfy (who is dating both older!Jaime and older!Bart) is actually wearing a black bikini... Notes: I love love love OT3s. I can’t believe I’ve only written one now. Words: 1,561

     You joined the team near the end of Autumn when the biting cold was fast approaching and your body is ill-equipped for such weather. So when you walked through the Zeta tube, your teammates thought you looked like a burrito.

     But they’re a great group of young heroes and you quickly adjust and fit in seamlessly. The first month was even filled with you deftly avoiding Bart’s advances. The moment you first laughed out loud at one of his jokes, he fell for you on the spot. He never knew someone in your line of work could be so carefree and in the moment, even when you’re knee-deep in Clayface sludge and sinking inch by inch.

     Bart tried the upfront approach and you definitely gave him a run for his money. You’re just new. You know relationships can make or break friendship groups and you don’t even want to know what it could do to the team.

     So he goes to his best friend Jaime, whining and asking for help. Telling him about you and how the littlest things he sees you do makes his heart skip. Even the way you slice pizza and place it on a napkin before you eat it, has his heart thundering.

     Jaime rolls his eyes and lets the scarab have a field day on insulting Bart. But because of stupid Bart, halfway through Winter Jaime starts seeing you too. He can’t help but turn to you at the sign of the smallest movement. The more he watches you, the more his heart is sinking into the same pit.

     “This is all your fault, amigo!”

     “Me? I didn’t tell you to start liking my girlfriend!”

     Jaime chuckles mockingly, “First of all, Y/N is not your girlfriend. Second,” he glares at Bart and yells at him, “This wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t keep talking to me about her!”

     The yelling is so loud. As you cover your ears with your hands, you wonder if they’ve forgotten that they’re fighting in the sparring room during actual training hours. Team training hours.

     Dick mutes them and he and Artemis turn to you while grinning. After constantly refusing their invitations into the League and the rest of their batch members have moved on, they’ve been handling the team a few years before you joined.

     “What?” you ask wearily, scared of whatever they may say next.

     “So,” Artemis starts, “Who’s it going to be?”

     You stare at them dumbfounded. You turn to your teammates for help but you’re met with similar grins and curiously raised brows. “What do you mean?”

     Dick chuckles as he walks over to you and places an arm around your shoulder. “Who are you going to choose?”

     “Bart or Jaime?”

     “Because this has to stop.”

     You stare through the glass where Jaime is shooting lasers at Bart who keeps appearing and disappearing in random spots, more like teleporting than speeding around. You can still feel the curious gazes around you and honestly, this has gone on for too long.

     Bart was obvious and Jaime is terrible at hiding the fact that he stares at you. You knew you’d have to choose one of these days, you just hope they’ll agree with you and you won’t regret this.

     You push away Dick’s arm and go through your teammates to enter the sparring room. You can already tell how closely they’re peering in from the other side of the glass.

     Bart and Jaime immediately stop when they see you. You keep walking straight ahead, toward Bart. You grab his collar and kiss him on the lips. His face goes red in an instant and you can hear the electricity on his skin.

     You pull away and turn to Jaime who’s frowning at the floor. You cup his face and tilt his head up to kiss him on the lips. Jaime’s eyes widen but he quickly melts into the shape of your mouth. When you pull away, he has a dreamy look on his face.

     Just as suddenly, he shakes his head and stares at Bart’s stunned expression. Before they could say anything, your declaration has to be made. “Either we make this work, the three of us, or we stay friends, and you have to stop with the advances,” you point at Bart, then at Jaime, “and the staring.”

     “I can deal with that,” Bart quickly answers, surprising you and Jaime.

     Jaime proved to be a lot harder to convince. He grew up in a more traditional household and Bart is… well, he’s from the future. He’s seen more than the two of you and to him. This is a straightforward arrangement.

     Bart tries to reason with him, “It’s an easy equation, amigo--”

     “Don’t say that.”

     “Platonic relationships or a relationship of three,” Jaime still won’t look at him so Bart speeds to his left, putting his arm over his shoulder, “Let me simplify this for you, either you want Y/N or not at all.”

     Jaime glares at Bart and the speedster only raises his eyebrows at him. “How does this come easy for you?” 

     “I like Y/N. It’s as simple as that.” Bart shrugs. “You’re also my best friend. If I ever had to share my girl with anyone, I’m glad it’s you.” Jaime gives it some thought and almost sighs in resignation but Bart leans in and smirks at him, “Plus, she kissed me first.”

     Scarab instinctively powers up and Jaime starts shooting lasers after Bart.

     “Hey!” Dick yells out fruitlessly.

     Artemis jumps down from the second floor and lands expertly on where Bart was going to speed to next. She then throws an escrima stick at Jaime’s laser. “You’re already working off one window. Don’t make it two!”

     You chuckle from the second floor as you watch in amusement and fondness.

     Springtime came and you’re happy to finally lose some layers. T-shirts twice your size and baggy pants were definitely the way to go. They’re even more comfortable when your legs are draped over Jaime’s lap and he massages your thighs.

     “Seriously, Y/N. You have powers. You don’t need to push yourself so hard when working out. You’re going to pull something, princesa.”

     You hate it when he calls you that because Jaime thinks you’ve been spoiled. And truth be told you have. Once Jaime was on board, you’ve been getting more attention than you can handle from both of them.

     The first few weeks were full of honeymoon bliss but it was a nightmare on the mission. The three of you were having a hard time prioritizing orders over your gut feeling to stick together. In the end, Dick and Artemis kept the three of you on different teams just to force you to get used to it.

     This only intensified all the touching, kissing, and moaning when you got back to base. You lock yourselves up in your room, the neutral zone, and Bart and Jaime fight for every patch of your skin.

     There was a time when they tried it, kissing each other. It was awkward and weird and they immediately regretted it. Instead, they focused all their attention on you. You, their spoiled princesa.

     Bart suddenly appears in front of you, holding two DVDs, “So which one’s it going to be? ‘Easy A’ or ‘She’s the Man’?” Jaime groans as you excitedly point at She’s the Man. “Oh, I almost forgot.” He leans down and gives you a peck on your cheek before he sets up the TV.

     Yep. Definitely spoiled.

     Summer is finally here and you can finally bask under the sun with as little clothing as possible. Your powers let you manipulate the light around you, rendering you and others invisible or eye-blindingly illuminated. But your powers feed on your body heat so you suffer through layers upon layers of clothing to conserve it.

     But Summer is all about the natural heat. The sun. The beaches. 

     Young Justice has an annual party to commemorate the team’s anniversary. Near the old cave, there’s a private beach where everyone can feel safe in their own skin. And Bart and Jaime are about to find out that applies to you more than anyone.

     Everyone’s already hitting the water and splashing each other when you’ve finished lathering your body in sunscreen, and there’s a lot to cover. The moment you step out of the bioship and under the sun, you let out some of your body heat and illuminate yourself.

     If that wasn’t enough, then the matte black bikini hugging your curves definitely stole Bart and Jaime’s attention and made their jaws drop to the sand. Some of the team members wolf-whistled as you swayed your hips in glee, finally free from the layers.

     The boys didn’t even bother glaring at them. Before Bart could react, the scarab zaps his foot and Jaime jogs toward you, reaching you first.

     “Y/N, you-- you look--!”

     “Hot! Ha! I said it first!”

     They glare at each other but quickly look back at you because they couldn’t stop staring at all the skin. Sure they’ve seen every inch of it in the privacy of your room but seeing it now, bright, illuminated, under the sun, it’s mesmerizing. It’s--

     “Beautiful,” Bart and Jaime say at the same time.

     You giggle and loop your arms through theirs. “Let’s make this summer a great one!”

✧ Watchtower Masterlist ✧      

[randomestfandoms-ocs]

What usually helps me with motivation is asking myself "what is making me excited about this chapter." So I'm turning that to you. What is making you excited about the chapter to Wayward Daughter you're working on? -Riley

Thank you so much for this!!!  I have a lot of things that I’m really excited for so I broke it down to a top 10 haha!

1. Kevin and Amy friendship

Kevin and Amy have been friends since the very first chapter, and Amy has always had a soft spot for Kevin for being “Joaquin’s boy”, but a lot of their friendship has been superficial up until now, mostly because of Amy’s reluctance to ever risk being perceived as vulnerable.  In this chapter though, Kevin is the first person to really notice how not okay Amy is and is the one who goes out of his way to help.  It took a long detour from my chapter outline but I think it really developed their friendship, and I finally got to explore some elements that have been building behind the scenes for Amy but that no one has addressed until now!  It also introduces their ship tag, which is “he asked if I was okay”, which comes from the scene I’m currently writing – Amy is bitching a bit about Jughead and Toni and “their northsiders” and when she’s asked why her being friends with Kevin is different she explains that a) she’s not dating him, b) he hasn’t historically treated them like shit, and c) when she was completely falling apart, it wasn’t her partners or even her brother who noticed, but Kevin

2. After several chapters of people letting Amy brush off major trauma, they’re finally acknowledging it!  

This actually ties in the most with her scene with Kevin – Amy says some stuff while having a panic attack and Kevin has a moment of confusion before realizing that “oh hey, she’s actually mentioned this stuff before but she says it so casually that I assumed it wasn’t a big deal but clearly it is”.  The problem with Amy is that she keeps the important stuff to herself and when she’s forced to acknowledge it she’s always extremely dismissive of it, so everyone else assumes that she’s not bothered (hell, she mentions that she was raped and then just goes back to watching Glee, and everyone is like “well I guess she’s moved on let’s not upset her by talking about it”), but really she’s just internalizing it and not coping at all, but since no one ever really pushes her to talk, it also leads her to feeling like it’s not important – but finally we’re starting to lay out the groundwork for when Amy is finally forced to start talking about things and has to acknowledge that she’s not nearly as okay as she pretends to be 

3. After 75k of just not really talking about it, we finally get some actual definition on the Serpents’ relationship!

From the beginning, the narration has always used the term “partner” and the phrase “ride or die” to describe the relationship between the teen serpents, but they’ve never really talked much about what they are!  In this chapter we finally get a bit of that, which starts with Amy finding out that everyone at Riverdale High thinks that she and Sweet Pea are dating.  After that, Amy finally explains (one again in that scene with Kevin, that could really be a chapter in and of itself with how much goes on in it lmao) what exactly their relationship is, what Jughead’s involvement is, and even what Joaquin’s involvement was before he left town (finally going back to chapters 1 & 3 where Amy mentions having had some sort of relationship with him but never explaining what that relationship was).  I’ve wanted to start to explain this for a while, and while I’ve talked about it a bit here on tumblr and in depth with some friends, it’s never really fit into the story

4. Honestly just the actual writing!

It’s been a while since I’ve worked on Wayward and the last couple of chapters felt (to me) very rushed and definitely not my best writing.  The episodes that they followed weren’t ones with a whole lot going on for Amy (I’ve plotted out all of season 2 and basically every scene I could think of adding would have thrown off bigger arcs) so they were just... short and rushed and felt very forced.  This chapter on the other hand has gotten way too long just because there’s so much going on, but it’s given me an opportunity to really delve into things again and I think that the actual writing (technically and in terms of content) is a lot better than what I’ve gotten to do in a while and I’m really excited to share that!  Also, clearly, there are a lot of scenes that I’m really proud of and really excited to share with readers (hopefully they like it as much as I do!) 

5. Just, angst

So I’ve definitely never been nice to Amy, but the angst in this chapter makes me really happy (and very sad).  It’s not all big showy angst, or even as extreme as other parts of the story, but it feels extremely poignant.  There definitely are some bigger pieces of angst in this chapter (Amy falls asleep in tears multiple times, for example), but I think that my absolute favourite angsty pieces are actually two of the most subtle ones.  What I love about them being subtle (aside from just how much I love the scenes) is that Amy is a character who we see repeatedly go headfirst into danger and go through very painful situations, but she always gets through them and maintains her illusion of being completely okay all the time (even though she is so not okay someone please get her a therapist) because she can absolutely handle physical pain and she’s gotten used to psychological trauma, but the one thing that Amy cannot handle which is prominent in both of my favourite scenes is being rejected/feeling unwanted, and while she hasn’t had a lot of that yet, we finally get to see something actually break through her walls 

6. We finally start to actually acknowledge Amy’s unhealthy coping mechanisms

This sort of goes with #2 and #6.  Ever since chapter one, we’ve seen Amy having extremely unhealthy coping mechanisms (namely alcohol and sex and trying to ignore her problems) and in this chapter we see that she actually can’t ignore her problems forever, and we finally see people actually looking at Amy and going “hey this is definitely not a good way to deal with shit” instead of the usual “oh yeah that’s just Amy being Amy”, and it’s very satisfying!  Archie has called her out on it once before, but he’s the only one – her partners are so used to it that most of the time they don’t even realize what she’s doing because to them it’s just part of her personality and Jughead has generally hesitated to comment on it because he worries about pushing her away.  As a writer it’s been a bit frustrating to see how much no one seems to realize how self destructive Amy is, so it’s very satisfying to finally get to address it! 

7. Amy & Fangs relationship

So much of the story so far has been very focused on Amy & Sweet Pea, Amy & Jughead, and the poly squad, with a moderate amount of Amy & Toni, but Amy & Fangs hasn’t gotten a lot of exploration so far.  Amy and Toni also explored a lot in this chapter but it’s very much for the worse as Toni begins to prioritize Cheryl over the other Serpents.  Amy and Fangs, on the other hand, have much more positive development and we really get to see them being best friends in one-on-one situations, as well as Fangs being the one who can actually handle Amy’s extreme emotions.  I’ve always had it in my head that they’re sort of two sides of the same traumatized coin, and that Fangs understands Amy better than the others (in part due to his own trauma and in part because Amy, Toni, and Sweet Pea are all just very strong and very stubborn personalities and it tends to be a bit of a 50/50 on whether they’ll actually help each other or just set each other off) and I’m really glad that I finally get to start putting that into the story

8. Amy & Fred!!

I stan one father-daughter duo and that is it.  Granted, Amy has only called Fred her dad as a political move (usually against Hiram) and once in the immediate aftermath of being arrested and severely injured, and is just emotionally not prepared to call him “dad”, but Fred is absolutely his father and absolutely adores his chaotic mess of a daughter!  They’ve had some good scenes throughout the fic but Amy is reluctant to spend too much time around Fred because she’s terrified that one day he’s going to reach his limit and decide that he doesn’t want her anymore, so I haven’t gotten to write them nearly as often as I’d like.  But finally we get to see them interact again, and Amy finally gets the love and support that she deserves and we get a bit of backstory on Amy’s childhood post adoption!  

9. Malachai is finally back

Look, I know that I say this about every dynamic, but Amy & Malachai is very genuinely my favourite dynamic in the entire Wayward universe!  I’m super proud of my personal Malachai in general (as @lorettastwilight and I like to put it, Wayward daughter has “Mal” and Riverdale has “Malachai”) but his relationship with Amy is my absolute favourite thing.  It’s really hard to work him into the story sometimes, in part because talking to Malachai would solve all of Amy’s problems in like 20 seconds, but now there’s finally a chance to do it!  I haven’t actually written it yet, it comes right after the scene I’m currently working on, but Amy is a lot more open with Malachai than she is with anyone else, and I love it!  It’s also a lot of fun to write because it combines vulnerable!Amy, who looks at Mal and sees safety and sees the man who had a completely blackout drunk teenager proposition him and not only turned her down but protected her from anyone who might have tried to take advantage of her, with Serpent Queen!Amy who is political and cutthroat and sees Malachai as as the Ghoulie King and as possibly the only person in town as calculating as she is, and it creates a dichotomy that I really love to explore!  And even though only one other person actually knows their backstory, I’m extremely proud of it and it’s really fun to explore how to build that into their dynamic without ever actually acknowledging it 

10. FIFI THE GIRAFFE

No offence to literally any other character, but Fifi The Giraffe is the absolute best part of the entire Wayward Universe, and I finally get to introduce her to the story!  Not only does introducing Fifi make me happy because Fifi is just like, the best, but it also gives me a chance to really focus on the fact that Amy is fifteen and still a child even though she never shows it around other people, and to get to explore a bit more of nine year old Amy immediately post adoption, and her relationship with Fred and Archie!  Both of those are things that I’ve wanted to explore for a long time but that have never really worked with individual chapter arcs or with the pacing of the larger season arc, so now that I can finally write that, I’m really excited to share it with everyone!

I know this turned into a really long essay and I’m so sorry about that, but thank you again so much for sending me this ask!!! (and you’re totally right, this got me super hyped to get back into the chapter!!)

PS: please enjoy this gif of Amy, Archie, and Fifi!

[unordinary-analysis]

Totally here fangirling over last chapter but also wanted to run this by you, I really really want Sera to get her powers back before John fight Arlo. Because if she does I have no doubt in my mind she’d get involved to protect her new friends and end “Joker” once and for all. Her fighting John with all of he skills he taught her + her powers + John not wanting to hurt her = Sera demasking Joker and I just think that would be beautiful

(This was the ask i lost an 1000 word answer on R.I.P.)

Sorry this is so late btw

I really like this take. It’s completely possible and would be really fun to read. When I imagine how this current saga is going to end, it’s usually something like this.

Also thank you for this ask because it lead me to realize how much I need a proper Sera and Arlo friendship.

Ok 4 things i want to address:

1. Seraphina getting her powers back

2. Getting involved with the Joker situation

3. Fighting against Joker

4. Aftermath

1.) so this theory (?) is very reliant upon one main thing: Seraphina getting her powers back. This could easily be solved because I mean, it’s pretty likely it’s going to be actually canon soon in the series. Leilah’s appearance was obviously put in where it was so that she would learn about Seraphina. Then, Leila having (supposedly) worked with EMBER or at least the company supplying them, will have the knowledge and resources to heal her sister.

Some things that are unknown, however, are Leilah’s intentions. We don’t really know what her point of view will be. We barely know her, having actually met her character once. Something else to consider, she ran away from home years ago. She will not be as close to Seraphina as she might have been once. We don’t know if Leila’s will prioritize her sister over her work, another thing we know little about. Though likely, us readers are very much guessing that Leila’s works with an organization affliliated with EMBER (which is why I said “supposedly” above). We don’t know if Leilah even actually works at a place that would give her the tools to help Sera. Her reaction at the restaurant may have just been because it was her sister, not that she knew the reason behind Seraphina’s ability loss. Even if she really worked close to EMBER, Leilah could totally be loyal to them. I don’t know. Her character is just so unknown for me to rely upon her to bring back Sera’s powers. Though, that probably is what’s going to happen because lmao why bring back Leilah at all if not for that. So that’s settled lol.

I don’t know how Leilah would bring back Seraphina’s powers. I don’t know anything about EMBER or the drugs they use, that’s the whole point. So I can’t really explain anything there, we just gotta wait.

2.) Okay, now that Serpahina has her powers back, something else I’m wondering about is why and if Seraphina would fight against Joker.

Ask just assumed that she would, to help her friends, but it really goes a lot deeper than that.

She has 3 separate groups of friends: High-tiers, low-tiers, and John (lol)

Most of her high-tier friends have already been defeated by Joker

She said she wanted to see Joker kick Arlo’s ass

She seemed to accept it when John said that he was just climbing up the ladder

But, overall, I agree with ask. Seraphina is going to fight Joker if she is able and that list is a shorter one:

Remi

Low-tiers

Though many of the high-tiers can be considered as fake friends to Seraphina, it’s been clear from the beginning that Remi has always been genuine. They might not have been the best of friends, but Remi and Sera respected each other and didn’t pretend to like each other. And guess what. Remi’s going to get beat up soon. Well, maybe. Depends on what this Remi and John conversation meant to John. Let’s assume things end badly. Remi’s a goner okay. Seraphina is a goodish person. She’s not going to let her just get k.o.ed

A problem with this is that by the time Sera supposedly gets her powers back, it’ll probably be after the whole john and Remi fight. And that’s why I have reason #2

Sera’s low-tier friends are afraid of Joker. They have told her that he’ll be able to do pretty much everything because he won’t have to face the consequences. I don’t know. They just spooked. They won’t be able to even attempt to fight back if Joker wants to duke it out. Seraphina, like I said, is a goodish person. She knows the low-tiers gave her true friendship even after she was an unbothered god-tier that couldn’t care less about them. She’ll be grateful and at least her perspective will have changed.

So if Seraphina finds herself in the position to fight back, she’s not going to just stand back like she did before. That was the old Serpahina: untouchable and uncaring. New Sera is aware of what her actions do to the lives of those around her. She knows that she is one of the only people that can do this, that can stick up for the low (and every) tiers. She gon do that.

So yeah, Sera’s fighting Joker.

3.) When Sera does fight him: I’m wondering a few things. First: things that ask mentioned:

Fighting how John taught her

Her abilities

John holding back

I’m not sure if Seraphina will actually use the tactics that John taught her when she’s fighting Joker. It could go either way. Initially, I thought that she obviously wouldn’t use them. John taught her fist fighting tactics. She learned how to throw a punch, how to block. Now, tell me why she would use those when she has her powers back and she is fighting against someone with an ability?

Then I remembered John’s ability. Aura manipulation. If Sera uses her power, he’d be able to use it too. And we have all observed by now that the stronger ability he borrows, the stronger John is. Remember, we haven’t seen John borrow an ability stronger than his, we don’t know what will happen. But, using her ability in general would be a major hazard. So using fists to fight is a good idea (in theory only because she doesn’t know how good Joker is at that too).

I personally think she would use her powers the most if the author went through the trouble of giving them back. Sure, she’d throw a punch is Joker got close, but I don’t think her type of ability will really suit close range fighting (i think, her ability confused me lol). So yeah. This isn’t really important to the whole of this idea, but I mean it was in the ask and I wanted to address it.

So that was the first and second points.

Now, onto something else ask said. They seemed to think John would hold back on Seraphina. I think it’s a little more grey than that.

Things to remember:

John was allied with Cecile and still went to far

Joker’s whole brand is merciless

The reason the high-tiers want him gone is because he doesn’t know where to stop, he keeps fighting even when the fight’s done.

Other things to remember:

Seraphina is John’s closest friend

Joker only exists because John wanted to protect Sera

Joker’s most common motive is to keep Sera safe

Cecile was more of a partner than a friend: he doesn’t care about her

So basically, I’m confused and I don’t know what John will do. Like ask thinks, John loves Seraphina (platonically, calm down). But he also is feared because he is completely merciless. Dark John’s character can be described by that one word: merciless. Let’s go down memory lane, k? Back to New Bostin. Remember Claire? Remember Claire? Same thing, guys. John’s best friend betrays him and turns on him and he crushes her into pieces.

Like I really don’t know what John would do if fighting Seraphina, and that includes whether or not he would hold back.

I’m going to skip the details of the fight and who I think would win because, like I said above, Sera’s ability vs. John’s would be too new for me to predict the outcome. And why bother. This headcanon kind of relies upon Sera winning so let’s just assume that for now.

4.) aftermath. Do you even understand how dramatic that reveal is going to be? How traumatized both of them are going to be afterwords? For Seraphina, she’s discovering that the guy beating people up and trying to beat her up is her best friend. Beyond that, he has an ability, which ultimately means everything she knew about him and respected him for is a lie. For John, he’s basically reliving the events of New Bostin, reliving the thing that ruined his life. Reliving what he tried to move on from for over a year.

How I think they’ll end up:

Seraphina: I think that Seraphina and John will cut ties with each other. Seraphina will want to hate John, but can’t help wanting to talk to him and laugh with him. She can’t seem to forget the person he was when he was with her. The humble and nice guy. She knows he doesn’t exist now. That he never did. The thought makes her sad, and she hates it. John did this to himself, brought this onto himself. He had dragged Seraphina into his mess, never confiding in her. It’s not her fault that he turned out to be such an asshole.

Seraphina becomes good friends with Arlo. After the fight, she feels he is the only one that understands her. She feels bad because she didn’t trust him when he tried to tell her the truth. She hasn’t apologized, but hopes Arlo knows that she’s sorry. They start spending lots of time together. It reminds her of the old days. When Seraphina first arrived at Wellston. Arlo had been king and she was queen. They were forced together because of their power and they bonded through that. They both had ambition, goals, a want to make things better for the students at Wellston and a need to prove themselves. They had been young then, and Serpahina had considered Arlo a friend. Then John came along and changed everything. Seraphina cant be ashamed of who she became because of him. If not for John, she would’ve remained ignorant about the mistreatment of low-tiers and EMBER. If not for him, she would’ve never learned how to laugh or how to reward herself. If not for John, she never would’ve stood up to her mom...

Now that Seraphina is back, all of her, her ability and rank, she feels whole again. Seraphina may have gotten used to the cripple life, but she never realized exactly how much her ability was a part of her. Now reinstituted as queen, Sera is with Arlo again. Nowadays, it feels like he’s the only one who knows what she’s going through. Seraphina realizes that he’s changed too. In the past year, he’s turned from the cold and ruthless leader she knew him as into a thoughtful, logical, and surprisingly kind person. He’s humbler too, which is new.

Sometimes they just lie on the roof together, not talking or saying anything, just enjoying each other’s company. It’s comforting not being alone. Seraphina finds it hard to trust him sometimes, but it doesn’t matter much. Though they like to spend most of their time in each other’s company, they don’t talk much, don’t tell each other things. They’ve known each other for so long, they don’t need to. And it’s nice. Seraphina... she’s happy. She may have lost her best friend, but she gained an old one. Her sister talks to her every so often because Leilah’s always in town visiting her boyfriend. Everyone is nice to Seraphina at school.

Seraphina knows she can’t ignore John forever, can’t just forget that he exists, but oh she wants to. In a perfect world, she could lie on this rooftop forever, carefree and forgetful, but she knows she can’t. Because this is not a perfect world. Seraphina tries to help the low-tiers defend themselves and tries to bring awareness to EMBER. Remi aids her in her ambitions, having similar ones herself, and their bond also grows stronger.

Seraphina is finally making a difference. It hurts to know that it’s because of John, but at least she’s trying. She’s better than she was before. Kinder. Stronger. Healthier. Seraphina realizes that for the first time in her life, she really has the chance to truly be completely happy. She’s not about to let someone’s memory ruin it for her.

John: After the fight, John was a wreck. He barely ate for a week, barely slept. Everytime he closes his eyes he sees her. And everytime, John breaks down because he can’t tell who she is. Can’t tell if she has pink eyes or blue ones. Can’t tell if she even exists.

In the end, it doesn’t matter. Claire, Seraphina... it ended the same. Ended with him sitting in these rooms, hands in chains, head pounding.

John isn’t really sure why they bothered to get him into these classes again. The authorities didn’t seem to care when he wore the mask. They didn’t bat an eye at a student climbing the ranks. John supposes he’s only here because of his past. And he can’t blame them. He’s really fucked up.

The classes are better than they used to be. They go faster. John knows all the right answers this time around. And Keon hasn’t returned, something John appreciates everyday. Instead there’s this strict lady running his classes. She’s not great, but so much better than Keon. She seems like she has a good heart.

When John got in here, he made a promise to himself. He promised himself that he wouldn’t forget. God he wanted to. He wanted to forget Wellston like he forgot New Bostin. But he knows how that ended up last time. He forgot too much. Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.

Everyday, he listed in his head: Claire, Arlo, Blyke, Isen, Cecile, Remi, Seraphina. He won’t let himself forget them. What he did to them. What they did to him.

When John gets out of his readjustment classes, he is more than surprised to find Cecile waiting for him. She doesn’t say much about what happened, and isn’t all that friendly, but he can’t complain. He treated her like trash. But for some reason, she sticks around. She visits his house. She talks to him about his new school. They text. It’s weird to have her. John realizes he doesn’t know anyone else quite like Cecile. Something he never really realized about her before is her genuineness. Yeah sure, she would keep secrets, but everything she did and said, everything screamed Cecile. She never put on a show to talk to him or a new personality that others would. It was refreshing. Cecile wasn’t instantly nice to him and it was great. She reminded him a lot of Seraphina... John wish she didn’t.

Seraphina... John wants to talk to her so badly... but he knows she won’t. He lied to her for the entire time she knew him. They were best friends. John still gets shocked sometimes as he remembers what he hid from her, all the secrets he kept. It never seemed like a lot at the time, only a little secret at a time. He hadn’t realized until recently that by the end, he was drowning in lies. Small ones and big. They had wrapped and choked him like a snake..

John stays silent at his new school. He’s friendly to everyone and greets people when they greet him. He doesn’t lie here. At a regular school, John is basically guaranteed the king spot. He doesn’t shy away from it. He tries not to embrace it too much either. It’s a difficult balance, but he manages.

He manages. And he remembers.

————————————————————————

After all of this, I think they’ll kind of hate each other but also kind of not because of how close they are and still remain despite (Sera) wanting to hate the other. Then when ember starts becoming near future, they will be forced together to solve something or whatnot as the two strongest people. I can’t even express how much I want this now. Sorry for super long post. I get carried away sometimes... oof. Sorry for that weird story thing at the end. I probably could’ve written that more generic and narrative, but eh

(comment “arphina” if you read the whole thing) :)

[bigskydreaming]

Blech. I’ve pretty much officially finished writing, editing and revising this standalone epic fantasy novel I started years and years ago and only just recently got around to finishing. Which is good, for sure, but also....blech. LOL. Because now I have no more excuses for putting off making a decision about the cover.

Like I always intended to self-pub this particular novel for personal reasons, and I can make my own covers just fine. I’ve done epic fantasy covers before for other clients that turned out well, even working with stock art and photomanipulation, its totally possible to make something that hits all the genre expectations and sells the right tone and feel to readers who come across it. BUT I’ve always loved the illustrated covers of a lot of fantasy novels I grew up with, and always kinda wanted something similar for this particular work, even though I have other fantasy projects I wouldn’t care as much about that one way or the other.

And so years ago when I first started the book and was only about a third of the way in, but still had a solid sense of the world and story and where it was all going, I happened to stumble across a fantasy artist whose work was like...exactly the right tone and aesthetic I’d always been picturing for that novel’s setting and vibe. And he was a freelancer, and open to commissions at the time, and you never know with freelancers if they’ll still be taking commissions a year or two down the line or if they’ve gone to work for like, a video game company or studio or something like that by that point, so even though the book was nowhere near done I hopped on that and commissioned an illustration from him to be used for the cover at some future point when I was ready for it. I just needed the illustration, I was fine doing typography and all that myself when the time came.

And I mean, I’ve literally been on the other side of the author/artist interaction tons of times, lol, so like, I know from my own experiences where its helpful to give an artist or a designer room to breathe and exercise their own creativity, make use of their own particular skillset and interpret the story elements you tell them are most important to see conveyed in the final cover, in like...their own way, like what feels best to them, what they’re most inspired to do with the foundational info you give them to build off of. 

Like I mean, visual design is its own skillset, and often completely separate from the kind of visualization most authors do of their own work while writing it....and with self-pubbed authors especially, as artists or designers you often run into authors who get really hung up on relatively minor details that they feel really need to be on the cover in some capacity and in really specific ways. Which is often to the detriment of the cover in the long run because like....what looks right in your head as a writer, totally familiar with your own world and story and its every minutiae and the implications and context of every single element....is not always going to come across the same way to readers who happen across your cover while browsing. Because they literally have ZERO context for what they’re looking at, and thus it really needs to stand on its own two feet and sell itself, not....loop back around to some hidden significance that will really only resonate with readers who end up buying the book and only once they reach this one scene in chapter 27 or whatever, you know?

So I really didn’t want to do that with this artist. I was only commissioning him because I loved what I’d seen of his work and the style he seemed to default to naturally was the perfect fit for what I wanted, IMO, so I was more than willing to let him take the broader strokes of the setting/themes/storyline in whatever direction inspired him most, as long as he hit within the general framework I provided him.

BUT, that said, for all that I tried to give him as much creative freedom to work with as possible, there are of course always a FEW things that as the commissioning party, are really important to see in the final product, and so yeah, I did have a couple of areas/elements that I did stress were really important to strike the right tone with, or it could make or break the whole illustration.

Specifically, I was concerned that he hit the right feel with the main character. My protag for this novel is a woman, and the one area his portfolio samples didn’t have a ton of variety with and thus had me slightly worried about what visual tropes he might default to...was female characters. He had tons of gorgeous settings, fantasy creatures, architecture, knights and sorcerers and monsters, but not a ton of women in the samples I saw. He did have some, for sure, and like there was nothing super concerning about the way he’d drawn/painted them....there were some priestesses, sorceresses, that kinda thing, and their anatomy and wardrobes weren’t like....glaringly cheesecake-y or anything like a lot of fantasy artists’ portfolios....so I knew he COULD get the character right, the way I hoped he would, I just wasn’t SURE. Like, I wasn’t concerned about specific details, beyond like....not outrageously contradicting the character description and scenes I gave him to work off of, I wasn’t worried about nitpicking minutiae. But my protag is a warrior-magic user archetype, and warrior women is like, the one female archetype he didn’t have any samples of, and I was more concerned about him defaulting to like....the old fantasy standby’s of ridiculously impossible and unnatural poses for warrior women, not to mention totally impractical armor, that sort of thing. 

Not to put too fine a point on it, but this was the ONE thing I stressed, lol. I didn’t really care about the finer details of her armor like in terms of decoration or filigree or even color schemes, I honestly could just adjust my own descriptions in the book to match what he came up with if need be. Stuff like that, so not a big deal to me. ALL I was concerned about was like....she not fall into those trope traps that ensnare so many women on fantasy covers, like....just make her look like she’s a fucking warrior who knows what the hell she’s doing, and I’ll be fine with everything else, you know? I even sent him some covers of published fantasy novels to use as comparison comps, like ‘this is the kind of feel or vibe I’d ideally like to see her capture, something like these women in these covers here’ as well as ‘this is what I really really DON”T want to see, like, I shouldn’t have a better sense of how good a contortionist she is than whether or not I believe she can swing a sword.’

Soooooo.....what happened?

Did he prioritize as I’d really really hoped he would and strongly expressed my desire for him to, and take care to at least avoid the more obvious problems, even if the end result was’t 100% what I was hoping for? Nooooooope. She might as well be mid-yoga pose. Sigh. Like, the guy has a damn near perfect grasp of anatomy and proportions on every other human figure I saw in the many samples I looked through before commissioning him, but somehow, despite this being of utmost importance to me and the ONLY thing about the entire project I stressed about and made sure to emphasize, lol, he ended up painting her in this weird bent at the waist position that throws her lower body proportions off entirely and like, her hip is angled or arched in this weird way that’s incredibly distracting and off, and like also, of course her armor is....pointless, in all the specific ways that happened to be the ONLY details about her armor I was concerned with. Y’know. Like. Its effectiveness. As armor.

And the absolutely obnoxious thing about it all, is that everything else about the illustration? Absolutely gorgeous. Everything I’d hoped for, even as I deliberately tried not to build up too specific an image in my mind ahead of time. Hell, BETTER than anything I’d have come up with on my own, and totally validating my impulse to have someone with different skillsets than my own do this instead of just making a cover out of stock art the way I usually do with my other projects. He absolutely captured the specific MOOD I was aiming for with the setting and general atmosphere, like, the very reason I’d been drawn to his style in the first place, he totally nailed that. Couldn’t have asked for a better fit to the general ambiance of the piece. The colors were just the right shade of otherworldly, a great mix of light and darkness that sold the gloom of the surrounding environs without drowning in dark palettes that make it hard to pick out individual details and differentiate between figures. So on and so on.

EVERY SINGLE OTHER THING ABOUT THE DAMN ILLUSTRATION IS PERFECT LOL.

Except for the only fucking part I was worried about in the first place, lmaaaaaaaaaao whyyyyyyy.

And I mean, because his style was a combo of illustration and painting, there was never gonna be a ton of room for revisions or tweaks to the final piece, I knew and understood that going in. He showed me what he had when he was done with the initial pencilwork, before he painted over it, but with the understanding that it could still change from that point, if he needed to shift things around because of the way the colors and lighting and shadows were all coming out once painted. And the pencil work lacked the finer details that he added into his painting in the final stages, so like, I did see a rough draft before he started painting, and could ask for tweaks or adjustments at that point...except at that point, I didn’t NEED to! LOL. In the rougher sketch, her general position was just shifted enough from what it ended up being that like, it wasn’t my ideal pose for her but nothing I’d say I actually had a problem with, like her upper body was elevated just enough and at just the right angle compared to what he ended up with that at that point, there was no unnatural hip thrust or any of that stuff, and there was only a rough sense of what would come to be the final armor. So I mean, TECHNICALLY I had an opportunity to pump the brakes and be like whoa wait dude, this isn’t what we discussed, can I get you to go back to the drawing board just in this one specific area right here and maybe even just take another look at those comps I sent you, see what I mean about what I’m trying to avoid and how that’s kinda sneaking in here anyway....except, I didn’t think I had to say anything at that point lol, because it all looked on track??

I mean, its not like I think he deliberately misled me with that initial draft or anything, nothing as dramatic as that. I’m fairly certain that like most artists and designers will tell you, in the process of like, the actual drawing/painting/designing, you have to make adjustments as you go to account for the little unforseen speedbumps where you were juuuuuust off enough in your prediction of how this would look when working in your ultimate medium, that you have to like...keep nudging your initial outline little by little as you go to account for the slight shift in direction...with gradually that adding up to a fairly significant departure in the end. Ultimately, I think we ended up with what we ended up with because he was good with focusing on my specific concerns when drafting in pencil and just mapping out a general intent, but the closer he got to finishing up his piece, the less and less focused he was on the stuff I prioritized rather than his own innate prioritizations and so he just kinda figured ‘is it really gonna be THAT big a deal?’ instead of sacrificing a direction or angle that played into what he thought was a more important design element. Stuff like that. Like, you know me, I’m def not saying that makes it A-Ok in my book, lol, I just mean to say I honestly don’t think it was...a willful, conscious effort on his part to leave me with something as far removed from what I was hoping for as what I got.

So again I say blech. Its just super frustrating and obnoxious and I’ve been trying to decide what to do with it for like, months now. Because again, EVERYTHING ELSE is perfect and gorgeous and like, yes, good, this is what I wanted, what I was hoping for. Like, I literally could not come up with a design using my own go-to mediums that would come anywhere close to capturing the general feel and tone and mood of the story and its setting better than the overall vibe of his piece.

Its just the protag, front and center, is absolutely driving me fucking nuts. And I keep going back and forth endlessly because I’m like is it really THAT bad and noticeable or am I hyper-fixating because I specifically tried to avoid this end result and ended up with at least a version of it anyway? And then I’m like psst, remember how much fucking money you spent on this, like yeah thats long gone and doesn’t change your current situation one way or another so it doesn’t really matter except oh yeah its totally gonna fucking haunt you if you don’t use this lol and all that money was spent for nothing lmfao you dumbass. And then I’m like, just to weigh my options, what would I design for this cover myself, if I ended up scrapping this and making my own from scratch, do I at least have anything in mind that’s for sure not any worse than my dissatisfaction with this? Except lol I literally can not seem to come up with ANYTHING, like, total blank, because again there’s just enough that I LIKE about the piece that its like, now that I’ve seen THOSE aspects of it, I’m not gonna be content with any cover that doesn’t contain them and I just literally have no way of replicating those effects via my own design medium.

Ugh. So its really annoying, and I keep going around and around and around in circles and making no progress on what to do about it and like...ugh. I hate being so anal about shit like this, especially when I am usually pretty good about dodging the hyper-fixation tendencies on this front specifically.....but I just got whammied but good by the way all of this unfolded and came together and now I feel stuck and lmao I’m really not fond of the fact that I’m really fucking proud of this book and how it came out in terms of the writing and story but like, covers ARE actually a pretty big deal as they’re literally a reader’s first impression, and I feel like no matter which route I go, a big part of me is gonna be doomed to be like NO YOU FUCKING IDIOT THAT WAS THE WRONG CHOICE, UGH WTF DUDE, TURN AROUND, UNDO, UNDO, U’LL REGRET THIIIIIIIS.

ANYWAY! That’s my much ado about nothing. I was kinda hoping that hashing it all out in a post and working my way through it as I wrote it all down would like....magically reveal the Right Decision to me and everything would click and be so obvious by the time I got to this point in the post, but alas.

Fix-It Machine broke. This accomplished nothing. UGH. RUDE.