mmamnmniee

[moonlayl]

For the sake of humour, they made Jennifer Walters ridiculously incompetent, even though she’s supposed to be a good lawyer both in the MCU and in the comics.  

[youkiyoh]

concerns

pairing : peter parker x reader

genre : superhero au

summary : being the girlfriend of a superhero has its perks. You love Peter with all your heart, and so did he. When you voice out your concerns over him getting into danger every night, a storm brews over your relationship. With your life at stake, what will Peter do to fix things?

My first ever marvel / tom writing, hope you enjoy!! :))

“Pete what’re you doing?”

“Cuddling you.”

“We’re suppose to be studying.” You giggle, leaning back against the headboard momentarily. “May’s gonna walk in.”

“I locked the door.” Peter whispers softly, wiggling his brows at you.

“Why’re you so clingy today?” You hum, smiling as the boy nuzzled his face into the crook of your neck, his arms wrapped tightly around your waist. You lift one hand up to ruffle the curls that you love so much, earning a sigh from him. 

“Just tired.” His words getting muffled against your skin. Peter lifts his head up, sending you a sleepy smile as he leans down to connect your lips together.

“Y/N are you staying- woah!” 

“It’s nothing!” Peter jumps away from you, the rosiness apparent on both of your cheeks as May stood in the doorway, peeking out from between her fingertips. You clear your throat, straightening yourself back up. “I’d love to stay for dinner.” 

“Yeah, okay great.” She drops her hand to her side, nodding slightly. “I’m already preparing it, you two.. have fun.” 

“Locked the door huh?” You smirk, hearing the door click shut. 

“I swear I did.” Peter rolls his eyes, falling back against his bed. “That was embarrassing.” 

“Is it?” You chuckle, leaning down to peck your boyfriend. “Come on, I need help with this chapter.” You pat his forearm, forcing Peter to get back up. 

——————————————————————————

“So, how’s it going?” MJ asks, picking at her lunch. “Is dating Peter as amazing as you imagined it to be?”

“Mhmm.” You nod, your attention focused on your physics notebook in front of you. You had a test after this that you really wanted to do well on. You’ve spent the entire weekend studying for this. 

“Y/N.” She snaps her fingers in front of your face, successfully gaining your attention for a short while. “Hey, you’ll do fine. Your lunch’s getting cold.” 

“MJ, you know how bad I am at physics.” You groan, desperately trying to cramp the formulas into your brain. “Besides, this is graded!” 

“You had a Physics genius tutor you the whole of Saturday.” MJ laughs, referring to Peter. “It must have rubbed off onto you a little.” 

“Come on, close the damn book.” She orders, snatching the reading material out of your hands before you could protest. “No point doing last minute studying.” 

MJ was right. The test wasn’t so bad after all. It was manageable, to your surprise. 

Humming to the study playlist you had playing in the background, you click your tongue happily, solving yet another question. 

A knock on your window had you peeking up from your pile of notes, a smile gracing your lips as you motion the figure outside your window to enter.

“Hey,” You greet, your smile fading slowly as you watched him limp his way in. “Peter?” 

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” He breathes out, slumping into your arms completely as you struggled to support his body weight. “Just a little sore.” 

“Come on.” You grunt, laying him back down against your bed. “Take it off.”

He obeyed, tugging his mask off to reveal his battered up features.

“Crap, what the hell did you do?” You whisper harshly, grabbing his face in yours to look over his injuries, only to pull away when he winced slightly. “Sorry..” 

“It was.. I don’t know, that guy was strong.”

“Take your suit off..” You whisper, rummaging through your cabinet to grab the medical kit you’re so used to by now.

“Pete that doesn’t look good.” You frown, looking over the gash at the side of his abdomen. 

“It’ll heal.” He groans out, eyes squeezed shut. “I had it worse.” 

“Stay still..” 

“That guy’s still out there.” Peter spoke mostly to himself, pushing his hair back in frustration. You kept quiet, tucking the bandage snugly around his stomach. 

“All done.” 

“Thanks.” He smiles, running his hand over your knuckles. Normally you would have returned his affection, but not tonight. It probably wasn’t a good idea to get mad at your boyfriend especially when he’s in this state, but you couldn’t stop the anger from bubbling in the pit of your stomach. 

“You okay?” Peter asks, sensing that something was off. You just nodded, placing the kit back to where it belongs. “Yeah, just.. it was a long day today.” 

“Wanna talk about it?” He pats the spot next to him, scooting over slightly to grant you space. 

“No it’s fine. You need to rest.” Finding him a pair of clothes he left at your house the other time, you toss it over to Peter. 

“You sure you’re okay?” He asks again, making his way over to you slowly. “You know you can tell me anything.” 

“It’s the third time Peter.” You whisper, looking him straight in the eyes. Those eyes that you adored so much. “This is the third time I had to patch you up over the last 2 months.”

“And?” 

“What do you mean and? I’m worried!” You exclaim, being careful not to be too loud as your parents were probably sleeping. “You go out every night saving the world, what if you get seriously injured one day? What if you don’t come back? I wouldn’t know because you’d be out there and I won’t be able to find you and..”

Peter presses his lips against yours, something he’s used to doing whenever you rambled too much. This time he frowns however, not feeling you reciprocate.

“Are you that worried about me that you won’t even kiss me back?” He pulls away, resting his forehead against yours. 

“And mad.” You spat, narrowing your eyes at him. “You taste like blood.” 

“Come on Y/N, this is what I do, and you know I love it! You don’t have to be worried, I know how to take care of myself, I’m Spider-Man.” 

“Which is why I can’t stop you can I?” You chuckle softly, running your hand gently over his bandaged injury.

“Not a chance.” Peter smirks, cupping your jaw as he leans down, smiling when you finally caved in and kissed him back. 

“I love you.”

——————————————————————————

It’s true, dating a superhero is cool. There’s no doubt about that. 

But watching as he fought people everyday but not being able to help? That sucked. 

“You’re late.” You tap on your watch, turning your wrist to show Peter the time. 

“10 minutes!” He exclaim, making his way into your room and dropping his backpack to the ground. “I got you these.” 

“If this is how you’re going to make up for it,” Your eyes widen, grabbing the box of tarts from him. “You can be late all you want Parker.” 

“I bet there’s other ways to make up for me being tardy you know..” The boy trailed off, sending you a suggestive look. 

“What happened to the Peter that struggled to ask me out on a date?” You giggle, mouth full. “Where did he go?” 

“He didn’t go anywhere.” Peter teases, popping a tart into his mouth. “He just got confident.” 

“Mmhm.” You hum, moving to your table to get your materials ready for your study session. 

“Can we not?” Peter asks, slamming your books back down. “We could watch a movie.”

“Don’t you have a test tomorrow?”

He shrugs, letting out a yawn. “I’m ready for it.” 

“I get it, you’re smart.” You shake your head, deciding to give in to his request. Maybe a night off wouldn’t be so bad. 

“So..Return of the Jedi?” 

——————————————————————————

“Y/N?” Peter shakes you softly, prying your limbs off his body. “Hey.. wake up. I have to go.” 

“Now?” You rub your eyes groggily, proceeding to cling onto your boyfriend tighter, earning a low chuckle from him. 

“Yeah he’s been active at night. I have to figure it out.” 

Obliging, you rolled over to the other side of your bed, opting to cuddle your pillow instead. “Okay, be safe.” 

“I will.”

Slinging his bag over his shoulders, Peter presses a chaste kiss to your forehead before sliding your window open, swinging off into the night. 

——————————————————————————

“Great.” Peter groans, falling onto the couch as he let out a dry cough. Applying pressure to the gash that got worse, he winced, peeking up to examine his wound. It was healing well after you patched him up the other day. Not anymore.

“Y/N’s gonna kill me..” Peter mutter to himself, staring blankly at the ceiling while waiting for Happy to get back to him. 

That guy’s a tough one.

“Here, I’m here.” Happy’s voice echoed throughout the room and Peter slowly got up from his position. 

“You do know how to stitch don’t you?” Peter asks, hitting the button on his chest to get out from the suit. “Because I’ll definitely need it this time.” 

“This is gonna hurt.” Happy warns, thread and needle already in hand. Peter nods, squeezing his eyes shut as the sharp metal pierced through his skin. 

Let’s just say stitches is now on the list of things Peter Parker hates.

——————————————————————————

“Hey.” You smile widely, nudging Peter’s shoulder with yours gently as you saw him in the hallway. 

“Hi. You ready to go?”

“Yep,” You rub your hands together excitedly, popping the last syllabus of the word. “I’m starving.”

The hallways were buzzing with students considering classes just ended. Squeezing your way through the crowd, you heard a light groan from the boy when you accidentally elbowed his torso. 

“Sorry!” You whisper, your features nothing but apologetic. 

“It’s fine.” Peter purses his lips into a tight smile, urging you to continue forward. You frown, noticing the way his brows scrunch together in pain. It’s been a week since you fixed him up. Given his abilities, shouldn’t he have healed by now? 

“How was it last night?” You ask casually while you and Peter grabbed lunch. “You have a cut.” 

“Oh, as usual, nothing much.” Peter shrugs, his voice cracking a little. “Pretty good actually, only one person got robbed.” 

You kept mum nevertheless, even though you knew immediately that he was hiding something. For someone who has such a huge secret to keep, you were surprised at how easily it is to see through your boyfriend when he lied. 

Well, he did make it super obvious. 

——————————————————————————

“I don’t see your shirt anywhere Y/N.” Peter scratches his head, rummaging through his closet to look for a grey sweater. The clothing you’ve claim to have left in his room when you last visited. “You sure you left it here?” 

“I didn’t, it’s at home.” You stated truthfully, folding your arms together. “Pete, could you lift your shirt up?” 

“What?” 

“What? I just wanted to see how you’re healing.” 

“I’m healing.. fine. Why’d you ask?” He waves you off, sitting on the edge of his bed. 

Rolling your eyes, you stepped forward, gripping the clothing in your hand and lifting it up before he could protest. 

“You call that healing fine?” You scoff, his shirt pulling back into place once Peter tugs your wrist forcefully away. “How bad was it last night?” 

You didn’t have to lift his shirt to know that there were more injuries hiding underneath there. 

“It’s just a cut Y/N, I don’t know why you’re getting so worked up about it. I’ve dealt with worse things before just so you know.” 

“Yeah, just a cut now. You might be sliced in half the next time.” 

Peter snaps his head up to you, his eyes staring at yours with a hint of anger. “Why do you have to be like this?” 

“Like what?” You frown in disbelief, not liking where this was going. “I’m worried about you.”

“Well I’m just saying that you don’t have to be.” Peter rolls his eyes, his curls falling into his face. “I know what I’m doing Y/N. I won’t get killed.” 

“Why do I even bother having this conversation with you..” You mumble, brushing your hair out of your face. 

“You started it first.” Peter accuses, his chest heaving up and down. 

“Because I care about you! Okay?!” 

“Maybe you care too much! I don’t need it, seriously!”

You gulp, fists balled tightly against your side as you processed his words. Silence fell upon the room, neither of you speaking a word after the outburst. 

“Just leave Y/N, I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

“You know if Stark was still around, he’d care just as much.” 

Grabbing your bag off the ground, you glanced at Peter, closing the door shut. 

“Hey, everything okay there?” May asks the moment you clicked Peter’s door shut, scaring you a little. Blinking away the tears that you could feel forming, you gave her a tight smile, nodding softly. 

“Yeah, yeah of course.”

With how loud the both of you had been shouting, she must have heard everything. 

“I know where you’re coming from.” May sighs, rubbing your arm reassuringly. “I feel the same way sometimes.” 

“He’s just.. stressed. Give him some time, I’m sure he didn’t mean any of that.” 

“I know he doesn’t.” You shrug, silently thanking her for being so caring. “I should go, see you soon May.”

You hate fighting. You’ve always hated confrontation in general. Especially when it’s with someone you loved. You’ve never really fought with Peter throughout the 6 months of your relationship. It was usually all childish bickering. 

You felt bad, definitely. Maybe he was right.. maybe you were being too clingy?

——————————————————————————

“Quick question, did you guys fight?”

“Is it that obvious?” 

“Yeah.” Ned snorts, looking back and forth between you and Peter. “It kinda is.” 

“Great to know.” You reply sarcastically, leaning your head against your palms as you aimlessly copied whatever was written on the board. 

At lunch, you stuck to MJ while Peter did the same with Ned. They felt awkward. So did you. 

So this is what fighting with your partner feels like.

As much as you were completely over the fight, you wanted to give Peter space. That’s what he wanted isn’t it? 

——————————————————————————

Two days later, still nothing. 

Chemistry’s the one class that the both of you would sit together. Mainly because it’s the only class that neither of you had other friends in. 

Even with sitting next to each other, the tension was still there.

Looking over to Peter, you could care less if he caught you staring at this point. You just wanted to look at him. 

He had a small cut on his right cheekbone that wasn’t there before. 

Resisting the urge to reach out and touch him, you bite the inside of your cheek, gripping your pen tighter. 

When all of a sudden, Peter’s hand found yours. 

His grip was extremely tight, and when you looked over, you notice how his hair was standing. 

“What’s wrong?” You whisper, his frown evident. 

“Something’s wrong.” He whispers back, eyes darting back and forth out of the window. “I’m sensing something.” 

“I need to go. Stay clear if anything happens, you hear me?” Peter warns, grabbing his bag swiftly and dashing out of the classroom. 

“He’s got a.. his lunch was old.” You help him cover up. Your teacher was not pleased to say the least. 

——————————————————————————

No calls, nothing. 

You were worried sick. Every single time you call Peter, it sent you straight to voicemail. It’s been 7 hours since he dashed out of class, surely whatever happened would have been over by now?

A knock on your window had you jumping out of bed, and you swore you couldn’t have smiled brighter seeing the familiar red and blue suit appear outside your house. 

So much so that you didn’t realise that it was a little..odd.

“Peter?” You whisper, grabbing his arm to help him in. “You don’t know how worried I was. I’m sorry about the fight, okay? I know I shouldn’t have interfered but I was.. whatever, you get what I mean.”

You frown when he wouldn’t budge, crouching outside your windowsill with zero intentions to enter. “Pete? Are you still mad at me?” 

Tilting your head to the side in confusion, you watch as your boyfriend pull his mask off to reveal, well, someone that wasn’t your boyfriend.

Well, shit.

“Jumping into action, you grab onto the window handles, desperately pulling it down with as much force you could muster.

That guy was much quicker however, grabbing your wrists with the speed of lightning as you struggled against him to no avail. 

You should have followed Peter to the gym more often.

“You miss your boyfriend that much? Let’s take you to him shall we?” 

With a hit to the neck, your vision went black. 

——————————————————————————

You woke up to a sore at the back of your neck. Reaching your hand up to soothe it, you realise you couldn’t.

Jolting to your senses, the memories came flooding back to you as you tugged at your wrists. They were bounded behind your back. 

Frantically, you took in your surroundings, finding nothing. Everything was pitch black, it was almost as if you were blind.

“Hello?” You call out hoarsely, your voice echoing through the room, sending shivers down your spine. You continued wriggling through your constraints, hoping that the rope will magically break somehow, only to find yourself hissing in pain when they dug deep into your skin. 

“Okay..” You mumble to yourself quietly, panic rising in your chest. “It’s fine, you’re fine, Peter will find you. He will.” 

“Trying to comfort yourself?” 

You flinch at the voice, whipping your head towards the source of it. “Who are you?” 

“You don’t need to know, young lady.” He chuckles, the sound of his footsteps coming closer to you radiating off the ground. “All I need is for your boyfriend to know that you’re in my hands.” 

You gulp, inching further into the chair that did nothing to protect you. You squeezed your eyes shut, finding his face dangerously close to yours. 

“Let’s go wait for the boy, shall we?” 

——————————————————————————

“Oh god..” You blink back the tears, desperately trying to hold them back in. The wind tonight wasn’t helping your situation at all, you being merely in a t-shirt and sweats. 

At this point, these guys standing in front of you wasn’t even what you were afraid of. They would be, only if you weren’t at the edge of a 30 floor building’s rooftop right now. You’re terribly afraid of heights. 

“You sure you didn’t accidentally kill him off?” The guy whose name you recognise as Mac spoke up. That’s what the other guys have been calling him.

“I’m sure he had it worse than getting hit by a train, right?” The guy holding onto you asks, tilting your chair forward in the process. You whimper slightly, the tears now rolling down your cheeks freely. 

“If he doesn’t come in the next 10, just throw her off.” Mac grunts, walking down the roof.

Breathe Y/N, Peter’s gonna come soon. 

And he did. Your boyfriend appeared soon enough, his suit dirtied in random places.

“You shouldn’t have touched her.” He growls, webbing the two other guys down immediately. 

“Y/N..” He breathes out, grabbing you off the edge and untangled your ropes frantically. “You’re okay, it’s okay.”

Shaking your head, you tried to get a grip of yourself to warn Peter that he wasn’t done yet.

“Pete the guy, he went downstairs, he-” 

“Peter Parker.” 

Freezing in place, you gulp, eyes darting to meet the figure standing behind both of you. Peter tensed, his arm tightening under yours. 

“Happy will be here soon.” He whispers, shooting a smile you can’t see. “Just stay here while I take care of him.” 

Your eyes darted back and forth between the fighting pair, everything moving past you like a whirlwind. Opting to squat near the corner, you tried your best to shield yourself, hoping that the villain would somehow forget about your existence on the roof.

You thought wrong.

Taking advantage of Peter being on the ground, the man strides over to you and picked you up with ease, lifting you off the edge once again. 

Tears made their way down your cheeks for the countless time that night as you gripped onto his arm for dear life. You could hear the faint sound of yells and pleas, but you were too scared to care. 

Before you know it, you’re falling. 

“Y/N!”

Everything was a blur, the vision of the roof getting distant with every passing second. This is it. You’re about to die.

Within the next second, you felt a warm body collide into yours, hugging you close for dear life as you hit the ground with a loud thud, surprisingly unscathed.

“Are you okay?” Peter asks from below you, his voice coming out as a groan. You clung tightly to him, a sob escaping your lips as you nod weakly, frightened out of your wits to say anything else.

All of a sudden, you heard what seemed like knives against grass as Peter switches your position, shielding you from whatever the hell was raining down upon you two. 

“Y/N I need you to listen to me.” He whispers hastily, hands reaching down to your waist. “Happy’s here, I’m gonna swing you up to the jet okay? Just hang on to me.” 

You nod once again because at this point, what choice did you have? Peter had only took you swinging through New York once and due to how new your relationship was, you didn’t tell him about your fear. Safe to say, that was the last time you’ve ever glide through the city.

Burying your face in the crook of his neck, you kept your eyes squeezed shut until you could no longer feel the cool breeze of the night and you felt yourself standing on something. 

“Be careful.” You sniff, letting go of your boyfriend as he sets you down inside the jet. He nods, wiping your tear swiftly before shooting a web, swinging away from you and the opening of the jet closes. 

“You good?” Happy yells from the pilot’s seat, glancing back slightly to look at you. 

“Yeah.” You assure, hugging yourself closely as you sat down. “Just a little shaken. Where are we going?” 

“Do you wanna go home?” 

“No, my parents would freak out if they saw me like this.” You rejected the offer, shaking your head profusely. “I don’t have my phone with me.. could you get MJ to tell my parents I’m staying at hers tonight? They weren’t home when I left so..”

“Sure, easy.” 

“Thanks Happy.” 

——————————————————————————

The Avengers Facility was definitely different than what you imagined. Sure, you’ve heard about if from Peter but seeing it for yourself was.. unreal. 

Tapping your foot impatiently against the ground, you grip your glass of water tighter in your hands as Peter was still not back yet. You pull your knees to your chest, completely engulfed in Peter’s scent. Happy had given you his clothes in the facility for you to change into.

“Y/N?” Your ears perk up at the mention of your name and you shot up immediately, relief flooding your body as Peter stood in front of you, absolutely worn out. 

“Oh thank god..” You breathe out, a smile tugging your lips as you engulfed him in a hug. 

“Hey..” He chuckles, hands wrapping around your waist. “You good?”

“Mhmm.” You nod, not really wanting to relive tonight’s incident again. Pulling away to look into his eyes, Peter smiles slightly at the way your brows scrunch together as you examine his beaten up features.

 “Come on.” You mumble, grabbing his hand and tugging him along. “Let’s get you cleaned up.” 

“Actually,” You stop halfway, shaking your head at your stupidity. “Lead the way, I don’t know where I’m going, this place is huge.” 

“Tell me about it.” Peter hums, pushing you towards what you suppose is the medical room. 

——————————————————————————

“I’m sorry.” You whisper, dabbing the antiseptic solution against Peter’s chest as he leans against the counter. “I shouldn’t have got so worked up about it, I know how you feel about being Spider-Man, I just.. yeah. Won’t do it again. Promise.” 

“Pretty sure I was the one being an asshole, but I don’t mind you apologising first. I could get used to this concept.”

“Shut up.” You push his shoulder playfully, your lips curling into a smile.

“I’m sorry too.” He finally whispers back, guilt evident in his voice. “I shouldn’t have gotten so defensive, I know you mean well. If I hadn’t caught you in time, I wouldn’t know how..”

“Just.. be more wary when you do this okay? The world needs you. I need you.” You whisper the last part.

“Anything for you. I promise, nothing of that sort will ever happen again. I’ll keep you safe.” Peter stares, his eyes darting down to your lips. Realising his intentions, you lift your head slightly as his lips brush across yours before he closes the space between you two. 

His hand traces up to your jaw as he cups your face, pulling you flush against him to deepen the kiss. You unconsciously smile into the kiss, goosebumps lining your skin as Peter slips one hand under your shirt, tracing patterns against your back. 

“May wasn’t kidding when she said you two will get frisky.” Peter groans, burying his head in the crook of your neck as Happy’s voice echoed through the corridor. You laugh, the heat creeping up to your cheeks, your hands reaching up to brush through his locks. 

“I swear, I’m investing in a door lock.” Peter mumbles against your skin, his voice muffled. 

“You probably should.” You hum along, tapping his forearm lightly. “Get up, put a shirt on or something.” 

“How? You’re wearing mine.” He points out, motioning towards his sweater engulfing your small frame. 

“Here.” You snort, tossing him one that you found earlier on. He can’t possibly only have one piece of clothing in this massive building. 

Pulling the fabric over his head, Peter pauses for a second, his eyes narrowing into a tight line. 

“How did.. Happy! Did you visit my Aunt just now?” 

[lycorogue]

Some Passing Thoughts on the New Miraculous Episodes

Finally got around to watching the fansubs of the Shanghai special and “Truth” (I’m still waiting for the other episodes to come out before watching Furious Fu).

Miraculous World: Shanghai – The Legend of Ladydragon

I have to say, I might change my mind later if the Prodigious proves to be more crucial to the overall lore of the series, but right now? Yeah. This special is a major skip for me. 

I did not connect with Fei the way I fell in love with Jess and Aeon. I am so pissed at the set-up the writers came up with to GET Marinette to Shanghai; her reasoning is the most selfish thing we have ever seen her do and it is such an injustice to her character. Plus, it is like neither Ladybug nor Chat Noir learned anything from the New York trip as they both show up in Shanghai kind of spur of the moment (i.e. didn’t tell the other they were leaving Paris). In fact, Marinette - again, going back to my hatred for the setup to get her to China - didn’t even CONSIDER the fact that Paris would be left unprotected; that Ladybug would be MIA. Granted, it was stated that Hawk Moth was surprisingly inactive, but shouldn’t that put her on hyper-alert; waiting for the other shoe to drop and Hawky to release something big that he was building up to? Instead she just lowers her guard and doesn’t even consider her superhero duties when planning on following Adrien. 

Another annoying thing is that the writers didn’t seem to learn anything from backlash against the episode “Kung Fu.” They just once again have Adrien be the one offering to teach Marinette Mandarin; not her mother (whose Chinese name Marinette never even knew), nor her great-uncle. Another writers flub was in the battle against Roi Argent. Ladybug questions Mei Shi’s suggestion that revenge does not equal justice (if that was translated properly), and... I’m pretty sure Marinette already showcased in previous episodes such as “Silencer” that she very much knows that revenge doesn’t equal justice??? She’s the one who corrected Chat Noir that Silencer coercing Bob Roth to admit he stole from Kitty Section and Marinette isn’t justice; it’s revenge. So???? HUH? NOW she magically feels like Fei’s revenge on Cash is justice for what he did to her? 

If all of that wasn’t bad enough, the pacing of this special was in complete overdrive as well. You didn’t have any of those emotional moments - both heart breaking and fluff-bombs - that you had in the NY special. The focus was largely on Fei, and I didn’t even really like her. She didn’t have the heart and the fully-fleshed characterization that Jess or Aeon had.

I’m also confused about Gabriel spending the past 15 years planning this whole thing. HOW!? WHY!? This is before Adrien was even born, or VEEERY shortly after if we skipped over his 15th birthday in the series. This was LOOOOOOONG before Emilie’s illness, which is presumably why Gabriel started using the butterfly miraculous in the first place (as showcased by Gabe in Origins asking Nooroo to remind him how the powers even work before using them for the first time in a corrupted state on Adrien’s first day of public school). So, if getting the Great Power of the Prodigious was something he was planning on doing literally all of Adrien’s life, why present it as “I found something that can finally give me an edge against Ladybug and Chat Noir”? I mean, what was his original endgame going to be? He couldn’t have possibly known that he’d be in dire need for the cat and ladybug jewels but struggled to take them from two teenage superheroes. It’s like the writers are trying to set him up as some mastermind akin to David Xanatos from Disney’s Gargoyles, but they are failing miserably. The whole Hawk Moth plot just doesn’t make sense to me.

Honestly? The only things that made this special worth it for me were: 1) Finding out a bit more about Sabine and her family (I love that she probably picked the name Sabine because it sounded like the pronunciation of her Chinese name) 2) Seeing Gorilla be his action figure nerd self a bit more (and the action figures of Uncanny Valley and Eagle) 3) Mei Shi in Renling (?) form, who was hella adorable! I need him as a plushie STAT 4) Adrien being the precious bean that he is. Just every moment he’s on screen was adorable (complete with him STILL having the picture of Marinette that was sent to him in “Evillustrator” saved to his baton and using that to try to find her) 5) Seeing the world through the eyes of a kwami for the first time and learning a touch more non-crucial lore 6) Mei Shi in statue form reminding me of the Dragon costume on The Masked Singer.

(I know, seeing them side-by-side now, they really aren’t that similar after all, but it’s been about a year since Dragon was on The Masked Singer, and he’s still what I kept thinking of as I watched Mei Shi on screen)

While I obsessively watched the New York special at least a dozen times, I’m really only seeing myself re-watch this special once more when it’s in English, and maybe whenever I do a full-series binge (which is super rare that I take the time for that).

Not impressed. Sorry.

Truth

“Truth”, on the other hand? Hhhhhnnnnnngggg. My heart! It breaks! Poor Marinette. Poor poor Luka. I mean, silver linings at the end there, but also BIG OOF. (Also, why wasn’t Adrien around at all whenever Truth made people confess that Marinette’s secret was her love for Adrien? xDDD)

I’m also a bit confused about the Adrien pictures. She had them taken down pretty much since “Troublemaker”, and yet her walls are once more papered with Adrien’s likeness now that Marinette is trying to get over him and date Luka? How does THAT make any sense outside of the writers going “we need an awkward phone call between Marinette and Luka. Oh! I know! A picture of her Adrien-covered bedroom walls is accidentally sent to Luka!” >3> Also.... what is UP with Luka’s animation again!? The kid was so pale it’s like they forgot to add any color to his model in this episode. WHY CAN’T THEY JUST ANIMATE MY PRECIOUS SON LOOKING HANDSOME EVER!? FIRST NO EYELASHES, AND NOW NO SKIN TONE!? WHYYYYYYYYY!? Personally, I prefer “Silencer” to “Truth” both in overall story and in Luka’s akumatized form design. Also, side note, did anyone else notice that Ladybug was hit by Luka’s attack and couldn’t speak for most of the battle both times? And that she needed Chat Noir to help her set up her Lucky Charm both times? And that Luka’s drive both times was to get to the truth?

I did still enjoy this episode very much. It showcases the new stresses Marinette has to face (totally unfair; I agree. However, it’s a standard trope in most teenage superhero stories such as Teen Titans and Spider-Man, so I was expecting it). It showcases how hard it is for her to figure out a balance between life and superheroing (again, re: standard teen-superhero trope). The fans get confirmation on a fantheory that’s been circling pretty much since Luka was introduced (ESPECIALLY after the episode “Desperada”). The Ladynoir shippers are well fed, and it’s great to see LB and CN praise each other - including Ladybug’s love of Chat Noir’s humor. 

I hope this isn’t the end of us seeing Luka in the show (that would break my heart even more) and it feels lame to build up the Lukanette “love rival” arc only for it to die off before it really goes anywhere. There was so much story potential there where Marinette could grow to learn what it truly means to be in love, and not just idolize and romanticize someone you’re infatuated with. Instead, all she learned is that she is alone aside from Chat Noir, and I feel like that’s SUUUUPER railroading the Ladynoir ship. And, frankly, I’d much prefer to see the Ladynoir side grow naturally, as it has been, instead of forcing Marinette’s hand because Chat Noir is the only one she can be MOSTLY honest with (secret identities notwithstanding).

It’s been a long hiatus. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to dodge fandom salt, but still get a larger dose than I intended to have in my fandom diet, so maybe my views are a bit tainted from that. However, this special and season premiere feel a bit like the writers are stumbling. I don’t know if the pandemic somehow affected their writing flow, or if they feel pressured by the fans to tell the series’ story a certain way and are scrambling to do so, or if they are rushing to an ending instead of taking their time and letting it naturally unfold as they had with the first few seasons. But, regardless of their reason, I hope they re-find themselves; the ones who told great stories in seasons 1 and 2 and (poor writing for Marinette notwithstanding) really good stories in season 3. I hope they can step up their game for the remainder of season 4. 

It’s been a long break, and we all deserve something good to feed us. We don’t need another GoT or HIMYM final season. Especially when this isn’t even supposed to BE the final season of the series.

Guess it’s time to wait for “Lies” to come out, and hope for the best.

[fmdkiana]

【✧】━━━━━ 🌿 k i a n a     i n t r o     p l a y l i s t 🌿 ━━━━━【✧】

these are nineteen songs that i’ve been listening to while making kiana’s blog [x] some i came across, some randomly thought of, and some suggested by lovely muns i’ve been chatting about kiana to. since she’s a character that i’ve adapted for the purpose of famed, these songs have helped ground me in the person she is. i hope the songs and descriptions below will help you learn kiana a little better too

1. to be torn by kyla la grange

this first song was a suggestion from someone, and i think set the tune for the rest of my choices. apparently it’s from beauty and the beast? lol anyway it describes this desire to be torn, a carnal need��to be used. the heavy sound of it is kind of haunting, a bit sad, but also strong. the emotion can be felt even without the lyrics. kiana has this part of her that deeply craves being important, whether it comes at her own expense -her own tearing- or not. also forewarning that a lot of these overlap on the same concepts. shrug emoji

2. intertwined by dodie

intertwined is a song that immediately came to mind for kiana after to be torn. when this song came out, many people saw it as a cute love story, wanting to be intertwined with a lover, and have them be the safe space when you have a troubled head. however, dodie made a video debunking this, against her natural inclination, because the song describes something severely unhealthy. the following music video also helped many people to see the gore that’s strung throughout the lyrics. it Actually describes a relationship where the participants have put all of their source of happiness in one another, and it’s left them codependent, but ever seeking more. kiana has this perpetual trouble in relationships, especially romantic ones

3. bite by troye sivan

i can be the subjective of your dreams, your sickening desire is a pretty good sum up of where the inspo comes from. it’s difficult, when talking about the negative parts of kiana, to not talk about her ex-boyfriend. i have lots planned to talk on so i won’t go on forever here, but it reminds me of how all it took was the tiniest invitation for kiana to “become his.” that’s how she works. come here puppy, don’t bite, and she’ll heel at your side forever. at least, back then. she’s someone who seems difficult, because she’s very asocial, but with the right formula, it could be so easy to slip her into your arms

4. hell in heaven by twice wish

this song is a bit similar to intertwined, i would say? someone who feels stuck, drowning in a “hell” that is only saved by a piece of “heaven/paradise.” yet they’re in between the place of hell and heaven, constantly confused of where they land, because they’ve placed their hope for salvation in this one, singular place/person. they want to be freer than they are, yet their salvation keeps them locked away. open the door to heaven, let me walk on the cloud. the day i’m trapped in you, save me, hold me tight

5. dinner & diatribes by hozier

a few different levels come from this song. while it was created with the idea of how tedious social gatherings are, the story that comes from it makes another world. kiana is asocial, and struggles with fear over social situations, which make something like dinner parties quite stressful for her. she’s also someone who isn’t fond of small talk, and more likely that type to say ‘talk to me about your deepest fears,’ but... she actually means it and isn’t saying it to be pretentious. she would much rather see the sickest, nastiest parts of someone, soak all of that up, than talk about whether the food was good. the music video describes this in part, but also gives a hades/persephone but worse type of story that is also quite kiana aligned. that’s the kind of love i’ve been dreaming of

6. creep by radiohead

i want you to notice when i’m not around. so fuckin special, i wish i was special, but i’m a creep. not to ‘have you ever seen me without this hat’ on you, but lissen! kiana is forever convinced she’s an outsider. the things she likes are more Cool these days than they were when she was a kid, but the feeling of being ostracized for liking them back then will always live with her. she’s an insecure overthinking fuck at times too. and also desperately wants to be someone special, and unique, as if having that would make her pain of feeling different worth it

7. seigfried by frank ocean

the meaning of this song is pretty different from how i view it in relation to kiana. for her, the focus is on the idea of ‘settling down’ being... acceptance of normality? her whole life, she’s been searching for someone and/or something that makes her feel special. she became an idol for this exact reason, dated her ex for that reason, seeks the relationships she does, thinks she could still have superpowers for this reason. but the truth is that she’s pretty normal. her hobbies are very normal people type things. her talents aren’t anything that would have her being called top of the line. her thoughts are all things other people have thought of. her booksmart intelligence isn’t any stronger than the average. she is very normal, and the tiny part of her that acknowledges that usually shoves it away. but on occasion, she wonders if she should accept it, and settle

8. gimme love by joji

gimme gimme love is all you really need to know lol kiana doesn’t stick around easily when she’s not being given the same kind of world-ending affection from those she’s chosen to share that with that she gives out. she gives at Least 110% of her love, affection, and loyalty into anyone that she has chosen to keep closest to her heart, and if she isn’t getting that back, she can feel dejected, unloved, and unimportant. she may give people like this a few chances to change, but her expectations, or “standards,” won’t change

9. pain by king princess

cos i can’t help turning my love into pain is the strongest lyric that ties back to kiana. the overall message isn’t as strong because king princess has a different view on a relationship as described than kiana. for her, it’s yet another kiana will put herself in the face of terrible parts of relationships. the trouble is that she enjoys it, and seeks it, thinking it’s the ultimate show of love. not to pain one another, but to be pained without them. also realizing after all these i should be saying this applies to her inner circle friendships as well, but the standards are just a little less heavy

10. any song by zico sun

not one for big gatherings, kiana likes to have her social interaction either through the wire, or in small groups (duos are best to her tbh) the song has an upbeat tune that contrasts against the lyrical meaning of something more about... any song will do, something to drag away the sadness that’s living inside. kiana functions a bit like that, always seeking her uniqueness to bust out and save her from her own mind thinking she’s not good enough

11. why won’t they talk to me? by tame impala

she is asocial, but that doesn’t mean being a hermit,, an otaku,, whatever you want to call her, is a life full of happiness. she functions very well on her own, but when she has that for too long, it can be damaging to her head as well, especially when she has inner circle friends or a romantic relationship. when not speaking to these people, the need for human connection seems unbearable to deal with, and anxiety runs rampant

12. alien by lee suhyun

her mama told her she’s alien, but actually it was herself telling herself she’s alien mixed with influence from pop culture making her want to be a superhero and kids who told her she was a freak, all coming together in the desire for weirdness to be a Cool thing. kiana will wish til the day she croaks that she will have a realization that she has a special power

13. stressed out by twenty one pilots

ki doesn’t care about the core message of this song. many people relate to oh no bills~ adult stress~ but kiana doesn’t. even if she wasn’t born into a family that could live comfortably, and didn’t become an idol making phat stacks, she would feel the same. to her, it’s an inevitability. HOWEVA the beginning lines are 1:1 for how she wishes to be something extraordinary, and is supa insecure that she isn’t. i wish found some better sounds that no one’s ever heard. i wish i had a better voice that sang some better words ... i was told when i get older all my fears would shrink but now i’m insecure and i care what people think

14. true crime by epik high ft. miso

not exactly 1:1 word by word, since there’s several perspectives coming in one song, however, the overall message i think can be summed in it’s a true crime to be without you. other lines like i’d open up my chest for your entertainment, that was the line that drew me to originally put this in the playlist. i’m not sure on a story behind the song, but it strikes me as something bonnie & clyde-esque? there’s themes of being on the run, lying on the pavement dying, stuff like that. that kind of relationship is strongly the ideals kiana holds for her romantic and close platonic relationships

15. shine by pentagon (shouldve been knight but bad bois image PLAYIN)

i cannot explain to u the random joy this dumb song gave me when it came out. it’s similar to power up like i just?? get so happy lol anyway the whole premise is like nerdy person has a crush n theyre like oh my god~ why would u like me~ i cant say i like u~ it’s super fucking cute. i’m a loser who loves you. yes, i’m a misery. to you, i’m a nuisance, i’m an outsider, but in this world, i only need you. that’s where the kiana part comes in strongest, or explains it in one sentence. she worries she isn’t enough for others but her affections are always incredibly strong. also she’s cute

16. tail by sunmi dimensions soloist 2

when i first heard this song, i needed to play it again to pay attention to the lyrics because i had the feeling it was kiana-esque. i was right, but i would say that it’s where kiana could go at her worst. has she been there? i’m not so sure. perhaps teetering on the edge of having her claws out, but really, for now, it’s just that the potential is there

17. she’s my religion by pale waves

so as to not repeat myself too much and because this is so much fookin writing already, this is another song that talks about how deeply and dangerously kiana falls into others. she’s no angel, but she’s my religion, always finding ways to numb the pain ... made me feel like i was finally enough ... she needs this love just as much as me

18. space cadet by beabadoobee

this song has similar themes to alien, but rather than about being special, it’s about being in a shitty place and letting your mind wander to create a better reality. ki has her interests, her extreme love of her fandoms, because it’s an escape for her. that’s not something i personally approve of, however, it’s a common reality for many people. living in these online spaces and thinking of these fictional worlds gives her a place to go to when the irl world is too difficult for her to handle

19. me! me! me! by teddyloid

you might think this is a meme addition and sure! to a degree it is! but i’m also going to talk about it as an actual piece of music and visuals. first we’ll talk about the music video. kiana feels complicated about the type of anime fans that oversexualize everything, so in general, she likes a message that’s against those types. the message of addiction tearing real life relationships apart also is something kiana sorta needs to hear. the lyrics of the song itself talk about an all consuming type of relationship, and dissects it to explain how it wasn’t love, but worship, which was dangerous to them both. it’s a song that kiana perhaps would need to take to heart, but i, as her mun, am unsure if she ever will. that depends on the connections she forms, and what types of people are goading her on, or trying to get her to stop

[let-it-raines]

Catch Me If You Can (11/?)

298 days. That’s how long Killian Jones was away from a baseball field. It’s less than a year, only part of a season for him, but it might as well have lasted a decade as he alternated between physical therapy and spending an excessive amount of time sitting on his couch.

But then he came back and won the World Series.

It’s something no one saw coming, and it’s certainly not something anyone who knows about his arm would predict. Now it’s a new season with new possibilities, and anything could happen. On-field reporter Emma Swan will be there to cover it all even if she is not his biggest fan right now.

Asking her out live on-air will do that.

Rating: Mature

A/N: I’ve been really working on this behind the scenes and have about 80% of the story finished now. With that being said, if I start posting twice a week (hopefully), do you guys prefer a posting schedule or my usual surprise?

Anyways, this chapter picks up where the last one took off! Thanks for reading, pals ❤️ @resident-of-storybrooke you’re the real MVP ❤️

Found on AO3: Beginning | Current

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Tag list: @royalswan @shey-starsfury @sals86 @iam2307 @ashley-knightingale  @karenfrommisthaven @skyewardolicitycloisdelena91 @scientificapricot @captswanis4vr @ultimiflos @jamif @idristardis @nikkiemms @resident-of-storybrooke @tiganasummertree @wellhellotragic @bmbbcs4evr @onceuponaprincessworld @jennjenn615 @mayquita @captainsjedi @teamhook @kmomof4 @ekr032-blog-blog @ultraluckycatnd @cs-forlife @andiirivera @jonirobinson64 @mariakov81 @galaxyzxstark @qualitycoffeethings @thejollyroger-writer

-/-

Warmth radiates over Emma as her body starts to wake up, her senses slowly coming back to her while she thinks about how comfortable this bed is.

This bed.

That’s not her bed.

It’s a hotel bed.

And not her hotel bed either.

She tries to keep her body from going stiff, tries to keep herself from jumping and running away, but with the way that her heart is beating, it may very well power her into the hallway and up the elevator to her bedroom all on its own. Is she anxious or excited or every single feeling in the world all at once?

Probably that last one. Maybe exclude anger and grief and all of the emotions in whatever sector that is.

Right now, she’s got Killian’s body pressed into hers, cradling her really. She’s never known for people to actually sleep like this, most of them drifting apart to their own sides of the bed, but it seems like they’ve somehow drifted together.

(Her life is kind of resembling a romantic comedy right now, and she’s not sure how she feels about that continuously happening when she’s never been one to be a main character in her own story. Until these past few years, at least.)

A solid chest is molded into her back, a strong arm is wrapped around her stomach with its hand sitting under her sweater against the bare skin of her belly, and a leg that is very much not hers is stuck in between her thighs. That would be nothing if she couldn’t feel Killian’s erection pressing into the crease of her ass, and she can’t decide if that feels good or if she’s ready to get the hell out of Dodge.

(It feels really good.)

Woah. When did she start quoting things about Western movies? Has she ever even seen a Western movie? That’s probably completely beside the point. Her life is apparently a romantic comedy, not a Western.

And maybe a bit of a drama and horror film wrapped all up in one. A new genre altogether.

Killian’s breathing is so steady behind her, the warmth of his breath coming out onto her neck and making a shiver run down her spine, that she knows that he’s still asleep, that he doesn’t know what’s happening. It’s comfortable even if she’s still freaking out a bit, but she’s kind of coming into the idea of letting someone hold her, if only for a little while.

She likes him. They’re…dating, right? Sleeping over and spooning and sharing emotional backstories before making out is totally something that’s normal for people who are dating.

Emotional backstories.

Killian had an awful day yesterday. She thought maybe it was just his pitching, that he was simply having an off day out on the field, and while that was true, she had no idea he was harboring all of that about his parents, his father specifically. For as much information as there is out there on Killian, his family isn’t something many people know about. She didn’t. All she knew was that he had an older brother and these two adorable little nieces.

A dead mom and a deadbeat dad weren’t something she ever really considered.

She doesn’t…she doesn’t have parents, never had that support system, never knew what it was like to be loved by the two people who were supposed to love her more than anything, and as angry and upset and saddened as that makes her, at least she never had any other expectations other than to be let down by them.

With everything they failed at, they’ve always excelled in that particular category.

Suddenly, there’s movement behind her, fingers moving across her stomach and lips moving across her neck in such a soft way that she melts back into Killian so that she can be as physically close to him as possible. All of that fear and anxiousness dissipates, if only for a moment.

“I can practically hear you thinking,” he mumbles into her skin, his voice dark and gravely as heat curls between her thighs. “Do you always wake up and stiffen like a board?”

Do not make a morning wood joke, Emma. Do not.

“I am not stiff,” she weakly protests, trying to let some of the tenseness in her body release as she sinks down against Killian so that her foot runs over his calf. His hand is really warm. “I didn’t know that we fell asleep here last night.”

It’s Killian’s turn to stiffen, but only for a second, before he’s pulling back from her and encouraging her to roll over to face him with a tug of his hand on her stomach. She does, trying not to elbow him or do something else painful, and really hoping that her mascara didn’t run. Oh shit. She still has on her makeup from yesterday. Her skin is going to murder her.

Killian, of course, is unfairly attractive and sleep-rumpled, his hair sticking in several unnatural directions and his beard a little scruffier than usual, red pillow creases marking his face as he smiles at her, a soft little thing that doesn’t quite reach his squinted eyes.

Oh boy is she in trouble with this one.

“Judging by the fact that I didn’t wake up alone, I’m guessing you’re okay with that?”

“I mean, I don’t think I could have gotten out of the strangle hold you put me in without waking you up so…”

She trails off, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth and trying to decide what to say. She’s never been good at this morning after stuff. Neal didn’t care for showing affection outside of sex, and with Walsh it always felt…unnatural. And it doesn’t help that the little red mark on Killian’s cheek makes her want to spill her own secrets about her not-so-great family life.

“Swan, what’s going on in that mind of yours this morning?”

“I was,” she starts, her heart practically a jackhammer in her chest at this point. Killian can probably feel it. “I was thinking about how honored I was to have you share your past with me last night, and I was thinking maybe I should tell you about mine too.”

“You don’t have to do that. I didn’t share for you to feel like you have to as well.”

“I know, I know. I just – I want to.”

He nods his head at the same time that his hand flexes against her hip, his thumb rubbing soothing circles into the skin above her leggings. “If you want to, love.”

“Yeah, yeah, I do.” She takes a deep breath, knowing that it’s not enough and starts. “Well, I told you about Ruth and David and how I love them, but they’re not my biological family or anything. That shouldn’t give me any hang ups, but it does because…because I have trouble thinking of Ruth as my mom when I spent my entire childhood thinking of someone woman I don’t even know that way, which is really fucked up because I do think of David as being my brother and Leo my nephew.”

His brow quirks, “What do you mean?”

“I – I never imagined having any siblings, but when I was in foster care, I always thought about my parents and what they were doing or what they were like. I used to have these crazy dreams about them, you know?”

“Yeah?” Killian reaches over and tucks her hair behind her ear, his fingers light to the touch as her eyes close for one second simply to give herself some time. “Like what?”

“I don’t know. It’s just…I would make up stories for why they had to give me up. Maybe they were superheroes saving the world, so they gave me up for the greater good. Maybe they were doctors or lawyers or something else, and it just wouldn’t work out for them to have a baby. I just don’t know. It’s hard to think of now because in reality, I probably know that they were teenagers who couldn’t raise a baby or maybe a mom in a bad situation that wouldn’t let her keep me. So, it’s probably stupid to have ever thought that they were heroes when all they’ve done is break my heart.”

“Hey,” he soothes, his brows furrowed together, before wiping away the tear that’s fallen onto her cheek. Great. Now she’s crying. She probably looks really sane right now, especially if her mascara is already messed up. “That wasn’t stupid. I would have done the exact same thing. Emma, darling, I can’t pretend to know how it was for you growing up just like you can’t do the same for me, but, if I may be so bold, it’s our parents’ loss for not being in our lives the way they should. I know that I struggle with accepting this myself, but it had nothing to do with us. It had nothing to do with you.”

“Yeah, because I’m a real catch all the time.”

She sniffles, blinking away the new tears that she’s refusing to let fall. This is not at all how this was supposed to go, but she couldn’t not tell him when he’d already shared. She has so much baggage, so many things that she’s going to have to tell him if they keep doing this, and her issues with her parents and the foster system in general are only scratching the surface.

How in the world do people do this? How do they trust someone else to carefully protect the intimacies of their heart and their life, every scar mapped out on a piece of paper handed over in a fragile glass case that is already filled with cracks?

How is she doing some of that right now when sometimes she can’t even talk to David or Ruby, the two people who have been there for her more than anyone else?

What a piece of work.

Or Ruth. The woman who helped change everything for her and who she still sometimes treats like a stranger.

Killian smiles at her, his thumb still tracing her cheekbone so that every touch electrifies her. The soft cocoon that they were in last night, the darkness and blankets surrounding them, has extended until this morning with sunlight filtering through the window, and maybe it can last a little bit longer.

“I know I may be a little biased because you are in my bed and all.” He stops here to waggle his eyebrows across his forehead as she gently pushes him, the smallest of chuckles escaping her. “But I think you are quite the catch. I like that you’re real, that you’re messy. It makes me feel a hell of a lot more normal.”

She scoffs, her chest heaving the slightest bit. “I don’t think you’ll ever be normal.”

“Good. Life is boring that way.” And then he’s leaning forward and slowly, softly, reverently gliding his lips over hers in a caress of a kiss that sends the butterflies in her stomach on a migration path all the way down to her toes. How can she keep doing that for the rest of the day? She’d sign up in a minute No, a second. “We make quite the team, don’t we, love?”

“A couple of real winners, twenty-nine.” All of the sudden, Killian groans, rolling away from her and onto his back as his arm stretches up so that he can pinch the bridge of his nose. “What?” she laughs, propping herself up on her elbow to look down at him as her other hand traces his biceps. She really likes his biceps.

“Don’t get me wrong. I’m really rather fond of the whole number nickname thing, but it just reminded me that we have to get our asses out of bed and go to work today.”

Work. She has work today. Killian has work today. Of course they do.

“Why you gotta bring me down like that?”

“Because the world sucks, and I’m evil.” His eyes flutter open, light blue contrasted against tan skin, and a smile stretches from the left side of his lips to the right. Here come those butterflies again. “But I do feel like we have a little bit of time left before I have to go meet the trainer and be at the fields.”

“I have less time than you do.”

“Pity that.”

In a swift movement, Killian twists to the side and moves around the bed until his knees are planted on either side of her thighs and his palms are splayed out next to her head. Every bit of their bodies are close to each other, heat still radiating off of Killian, and she tugs her bottom lip between her teeth, anticipation at what this position usually means humming through her body.

She definitely needs to get laid, but she’s not quite ready for that yet. It’s been a long damn time since sex for her involved feelings, and feelings would no doubt be involved here.

A lot of them.

So, making out like teenagers will have to do.

What a tragic life that she lives.

(And she’s definitely feeling a bit of whiplash for how quickly this situation flipped on its head.)

Killian drops his head down, his nose brushing against the dip in her collarbone before he’s biting down, hard, and then soothing his mark with his tongue all the while his scruff scratches against her skin. It took a while to get used to that, to not be irritated by the scratch of a beard instead of the smoothness of bare skin, but she can’t say she minds. Not at all.

What she does mind is that as her hips are arching up into Killian’s, he pulls back and removes his lips from her body.

(She also doesn’t love the whine that just passed through her lips, but that was feeling really damn good.)

“What are you doing?” she groans, looping her hands around the back of his neck and threading her fingers through his hair to pull his lips down closer to hers. “I was enjoying that.”

“As was I.” His voice is hoarse, a little darker than usual, and it reminds her so much of how it was when he woke up that heat curls between her thighs. But no, not ready. “I was simply thinking that maybe we should get breakfast.”

“I’m fine doing this.” Her stomach growls, rather loudly, and she wants to melt into the mattress, especially when Killian’s brow perks up. “Okay, maybe I’m a little hungry. I should probably also brush my teeth.”

“It is the most important meal of the day, and I do appreciate dental hygiene.”

“So, how can we get breakfast if it’s all a secret?”

“Room service, Swan.” He says it like it’s the most obvious statement in the world, and maybe it is, but then he’s lowering his head to briefly kiss her once more and thoughts fly out of her head. “Or we can get some more of your vending machine treats since Ariel pilfered some of them last night.”

“The thief.”

“Shameful.”

“I think I’m okay with room service.”

“Good.”

-/-

“Smile.” Emma holds up the camera to Will Scarlet’s face, a little alien covering his features even as he scowls. “Come on, you’ve got to smile. You guys are crushing it today, and we’re probably only going to be out here for another thirty minutes.”

“What filter do you have on me?”

“It’s an alien.” She snaps a picture and turns the phone around to show him. “See. It’s supposed to be fun, Scarlet. You’re twenty-seven, and you don’t use snapchat or Instagram filters? Are you secretly a grandpa? Come on. I know that Belle uses them.”

He raises a brow, and somehow, she swears it’s even more prominent than when Killian does it. “You follow Belle on Instagram?”

She shrugs her shoulders as there’s a ding of bat against ball and Forester hits a foul into the stands. That’s his third for the day. She should probably be focusing on that, but it’s the top of the ninth and 7-1. There likely aren’t going to be any big developments, and she’s currently trying to get some more fun behind the scenes stuff for her social media by hounding all of the guys in the dugout. Funny filters are a surprisingly big hit, especially when she can get the bigger names like Will and Robin or Eric to do it.

Robin made an adorable dog while Eric’s head went all twisty and his voice got high as she asked him questions about the game and how today differs from yesterday.

(The short answer: every day is different. The real answer: Robin was their starting pitcher instead of Killian.)

“Part of my job. I have to know what’s going on in your lives. Also, she followed me after that night we all hung out in California, and sometimes we comment on each other’s pictures. It’s obviously a true friendship in the making.”

“Obviously. What’s all this stuff for? I thought you just interviewed us and were, like, the super tough Emma Swan who doesn’t take shit from any of us.”

“Well, I am that,” she corrects, swiping through the filters with Will as several people walk by to get their cups of water. It smells horrible in here, and as much as she doesn’t want to admit it, she’s probably contributed to that with how much she’s sweating today. New York’s summer weather can be just awful (and the smell makes it so much worse), but they’re not quite there yet. Down here, though, May might as well be August. “Which is why I’m currently bugging you, but I’ve also been asked to do some of this stuff. You know, fun. You’re literally the funniest person on this team. I figured you’d be all for this. Come on. I’ll find Jones in the locker room afterwards and give him the most unflattering filter there is.”

Will smiles at that as a small bit of laughter passes through his lips. “Okay, but I want you to do the one that turns him into a baby.”

“Deal.”

-/-

“There is an entire plane full of people, and yet I find you sitting in the corner next to the bathroom all by yourself.”

She looks up from where she’s typing out all of her travel expenses (at least the ones she can charge to work anyways) in the form she fills out after every road series, only to see Killian standing above her with a cap pulled low on his forehead like that’s somehow going to disguise the fact that he’s over here talking to her. These guys see him wearing a hat more often than they see him without one, and they’re on a plane. There’s really no hiding away. She would know. That’s what she was trying to do to get some work done, and she’s been found.

“I had to fill out my travel expenses and then get some work done. They’re letting me help out with some of the intro clips for the next few home games.”

“Really? That’s great, love.”

“I know. I’m excited for it.”

He nods his head to the empty seat next to her. “Can I sit?”

Worry circles around in her stomach as she presses up in her seat to look around them. There’s no one for at least four rows, and most everyone seems to be sleeping or watching a movie.

Still. This likely isn’t the best idea. Sneaking away to his hotel room seems simple and innocent enough, but they almost got caught there when behind closed doors. This is right out in the open even if the lights are dimmed to almost blackness.

How in the world do people in all of those books and movies do this secret dating thing? It’s complicated.

Then again, when isn’t it? Ugh, she feels so much like Avril Lavigne right now.

“Is that a good idea?” she worries.

Killian raises his hands. “Just to sit and talk. There will be no funny business.”

“Well, that would require you to be funny to begin with.”

He rolls his eyes, but he’s smiling that million-dollar smile all at the same time. “I’ll have you know that I’m hysterical. Just today I did an entire interview with a filter on my face that made me look like I had a giant forehead and sound like an animated rodent.”

(She couldn’t find the baby filter Will wanted.)

“Just sit down, you weirdo.”

He does, picking up her carry-on bag and placing it in the empty row next to them, before settling down next to her and stretching his seatbelt across his stomach even though the light isn’t on. She bets he’s an insane stickler for rules. It would fit right in with everything she knows about him.

“So,” he murmurs, not-so-slyly looping his calf under hers so that she can feel the warmth of his calf against hers, “is work the only reason you’re hanging out back here alone?”

Does she hate that he already knows him so well, or does she secretly appreciate it?

Is there even an answer to that question?

“I just needed…I needed some time to do some work stuff and decompress. It’s been kind of a heavy few days, and believe it or not, I do have to spend a little time away from people every now and then.”

“What? No? You?” He taps his shoulder into hers, and she closes her laptop, knowing for a fact that she’s not going to get any work done like this. “I thought you were always a people person who always needed to be around others.”

“Ha ha,” she huffs, stretching her feet out as much as she can, “you’re so funny.”

“I thought you just said that I wasn’t funny.”

“Obviously that was sarcasm.”

“So I am funny?”

“No. Wait, what? How did I lose track of this conversation in so little words?”

“I find that my handsome face tends to make people lose their train of thought.”

She twists to the side and pinches the skin of his forearm, leaving it red and angry. The height of maturity. Always. Killian doesn’t even flinch.

“Honesty time?” she asks, leaning her head back and twisting it to the side so that she can look into Killian’s eyes. This is such a familiar sight, so similar to last night and this morning, but it’s all different now. Everything seems to be outside of the safe comfort of a hotel room.

“I like honesty. We seem to be very good at that.”

“Our track record is pretty good in the last twenty-four hours.”

“So,” he nudges, moving his foot underneath hers to move them the slightest bit closer to each other. Her hand itches to reach out for his, but she holds back. “Let’s talk about what’s on your mind.”

Why does the sound of his voice make her want to spill her secrets every single time? He’s like a freaking snake charmer, and she’s fully convinced that snakes should never be charmed. Everyone should stay far, far away from any and all snakes.

But not the charmers.

Not when they seem so genuine.

Her life doesn’t make sense anymore, but she doesn’t really care. Well, no, she does care. She cares a lot, and it’s why she’s about to spurt out some words that she would have never dared say in any other relationship. She never really had to.

“I, um,” she stutters, blinking at him several times as no features on Killian’s face change, his leg a heavy presence against hers, “what are we doing?”

“Talking, I think,” he laughs as a brow raises on his forehead and a smile stretches across his lips. “But I’m guessing you don’t mean at this current moment.”

“Perceptive.” “You’re an open book.”

“I’ve heard that one before. From you, actually.”

“It’s true. You’re a very fascinating book, though.”

“A regular Harry Potter.”

“Most definitely.” His hand finds hers, something she wanted to do earlier but didn’t, and her eyes do another scan around the plane to make sure no one is paying attention to them under the dimmed lights. She’d honestly be surprised if anyone could even see them, but she doesn’t want to take a lot of chances. “So, tell me, love. I’m all ears.”

“Yeah, little pointed ones.” His lips scowl at that, but she carries on with a sigh. “Okay, okay. I, um, I want to know what we’re doing relationship-wise. I know that seems dumb but I – ”

“It’s not dumb.”

“Can I just sprout all of this information out without you interrupting me because I am going to lose my courage?”

“Yeah, Swan, go.”

“I’m…I like you, okay? You obviously know that because I’ve said it before and I flirt with you and we have some pretty heavy make-out sessions, which are nice, by the way.” Killian nods his head in agreement, his lips twitching in the corners, but he doesn’t say anything. A man of his word. Or…non-word. “But there’s obviously an emotional connection too. We’re dating without anyone knowing, testing the waters or whatever, and we shared…a lot last night and this morning. A lot of stuff that I don’t talk about that often, and I have so much more shit in my life. I just – ”

How the hell does she say this?

“You want to know if we’re dating other people.”

“What a time to interrupt me.”

“You didn’t say anything for forty-seven seconds. And that’s only after I started counting.”

She chuckles, unable to help herself, and leans down to bury her face in his shoulder, breathing in the strong scent of his cologne and whatever detergent it is that he uses.

“I…trust you. I do, but I have to ask. I’ve been burned pretty badly in the past by other guys, and I know that you kind of have a…history of dating several women at once.”

She is an asshole for even bringing that up, but she had to. And he didn’t flinch away from her or untangle their fingers, so that has to be a good sign, right?

“I’m not that guy anymore, and I promise one day I’m going to explain it all to you. I need some time, though. As much as I love sharing all of this with you, we’re in the early stages of a relationship. I think we have all of the time in the world to get into the lives we’ve lived when all I’m really interested in is making you laugh or getting you on the big screen while you’re eating a hot dog.”

“No,” she groans, laughter bubbling up in her stomach. “Stop that. It’s not even funny. You’ve seen me eat. I’m not an attractive eater.”

“I think you’re pretty attractive when you’re eating a hot dog, if you catch my drift.”

“I hate you for making that joke.”

“Oh, come on, you don’t hate me for it. You’re probably hoping that my bedroom humor is a little bit better than that though.”

“Wasn’t even going to go there.”

“How could you not?”

“Good point,” she laughs, leaning her head against his shoulder and closing her eyes, the fatigue of the trip and the day finally starting to hit her. “I didn’t eat dinner, and a hot dog is actually sounding really good right now.”

“So many jokes I could make about that sentence.”

“I know. That’s why I said it.”

“I knew I liked you for a reason.” Killian sighs, and she can feel it in the movement of his chest. “I’ve got to move back to my spot up with the guys and Ariel, but I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“Sounds good to me.”

There’s some shuffling around, the click of Killian’s seatbelt, and then warm lips against her temple as he gets up and she tries to calm the quick beat of her heart to fall asleep for the rest of the plane ride home.

-/-

It’s far past midnight when she gets back to her apartment, the wind howling and the rain coming down outside, and she very quietly tries to get inside so as not to wake up Graham and Ruby only to find Ruby sitting on the floor of their kitchen painting her toenails. What else would someone be doing on Sunday night…or really, Monday morning?

“Rubes? Why are you up?”

“I was waiting for you.”

“I’m a big girl. I can get home on my own.”

“I know, I know,” she sighs, twisting the cap on her red polish and standing up from the floor so that she can wrap her arms around Emma and completely and totally smothering her with her hug. “I have missed you. Do you know what it’s like to only live with a man?”

“Do you mean your boyfriend?”

“Yes,” Ruby groans, squeezing her more. “I love him so much and will probably marry him one day, but he does not enjoy my trashy TV shows or how much my period sucks.”

“You know for a fact that Graham loves your trashy TV shows. He always knows the latest gossip.”

“This is true. I’ve mostly just been bored at work.”

“There it is,” Emma laughs, pulling back from the hug and taking a step back so that she can breathe. “You want to catch me up on everything tonight or wait until we’re on the clock tomorrow?”

“Oh, on the clock. Who are you even kidding? Why talk for free when we can get paid for it?”

“My entire life philosophy.”

“So,” Ruby nudges, bending down to pick up her nail polish bottle, “anything interesting happen in Florida?”

Heat immediately rises to Emma’s cheeks, the red only hidden by the dim lighting in their kitchen (how was Ruby painting her nails in this?), and she has to get better at this whole blushing thing when Ruby doesn’t mean anything by her question. This is simply what they do when they’ve been apart. Texts can’t cover everything, not the way that an in-person conversation can.

“Nope. Not a thing.”

Everything, actually.

[thewritewolf]

Rekindle Chapter 22: Sick

Adrien takes care of Marinette while she is sick with a mysterious illness. 

Sorry for the long delay. I promise I’m back into the swing of things! ;-;

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30  31

@marichatmay

Enjoy!

Read on Ao3

The door squeaked as Adrien opened it and a spear of light pierced the warm darkness of their bedroom. He winced at the noise, but Marinette remained still save for the rise and fall of her chest as she lay sprawled across the bed. The call had been made, even if he had to do a bad accent to appease his paranoid mind. Her work was now aware that Marinette was sick and couldn’t make it into work today. Someone else would have to do their dirty work for the day.

He froze halfway towards her, realizing that she was mumbling in her sleep. Craning his head towards her, he strained to make out what she was saying. There was something about magic and sorcerers and monsters. Was she having a nightmare?

The bed sunk as Adrien sat on the edge. He put his hand against Marinette’s forehead, growing more concerned as he realized just how warm she was. Despite this, she smiled blearily at the contact, eyes fluttering open.

“Hey, hot stuff.” She mumbled. “You come here a lot?”

He couldn’t help but chuckle as he looked around their shared bedroom. “Yeah, I guess you could say that.” The quick smile died on his lips as he saw the sweat on her brow and how difficult it was for her to keep her eyes open. “How’re you feeling, Bug?”

“Not great. Tired. Hot,” she admitted with a cough. But then the bleary smile was back. “On the bright side, at least I have my boyfriend to nurse me back to health.” She weakly squeezed his hand and he idly ran his thumb over the back of her hand.

“At least there’s that…” He carefully stood up, making sure not to disturb her as he rose from where he had been sitting on the side of the bed. “Are you feeling up for some soup?”

“Yay! Soup!”

He shook his head with a smile and closed the door behind him. In the kitchen, the kwami were arguing on the countertop.

“Are you sure, Stinky Sock? You might have missed them if you saw a dustball that looked like a piece of cheese while you were in there.”

“Hey!” Plagg pointed his paw indignantly at Tikki, glaring. “That happened once and it was an honest mistake!” He crossed his paws over his chest. “If you’re so sure I missed them, then go ahead and check for yourself.”

“Maybe I will!” Tikki huffed and phased through the wall.

“What was all that about?” Adrien asked when he was alone with his kwami.

“Pigtails didn’t stock up on medicine. We’re out, so your girlfriend will have to tough it out this time.” Though Plagg said it matter-of-factly, his tail was flicking back and forth in irritation and he was frowning into space.

Adrien sucked in a breath. Tikki emerged from the wall with a pout, watching Adrien. “It looks like cheese boy over there is right.” She sighed. “Do you think you two could go get some medicine? Maybe some comfort foods too while you’re at it. Marinette doesn’t get sick a lot, but it tends to linger when she does.”

He exchanged a look with Plagg, who rolled his eyes. “Sure,” he said with a nod. “I’ll head out after I’ve made the soup.”

“I’ll keep an eye on Marinette.”

Adrien raised an eyebrow at that. “Are you going to be okay watching her by yourself?”

“I’ve done it before.” At his shocked look, she shrugged. “It’s been a while since she’s had another human on hand to take care of her. I pick up the slack when I can, but I can’t tell you how happy I am that you’re in her life now.”

“Thanks, Tikki,” he smiled at the red kwami, gently petting her head with his finger. “That means a lot to me.”

She giggled. “Don’t worry about it.” She quickly turned serious again as she glanced worriedly toward the bedroom. “Just hurry back, okay? I don’t like the idea of leaving her alone when she’s like this.”

“I’ll be back before you know it.”

The soup didn’t take much longer to finish and within the hour he was transformed and leaping across Paris as the hero Chat Noir.

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

It had become almost routine for him at this point. Pull out cash from an ATM, then pay for whatever their household needed as Chat Noir. Sure, it had flaws, mostly in how other people reacted to seeing a superhero walking through the aisles of a supermarket or drugstore, but he usually got around that by going to the stores at night.

That option sadly wasn’t available to him today. At least, it wasn’t if he wanted to be quick and get Marinette some medicinal help for her fever. He braced himself to interact with a lot of people and wasn’t disappointed in that regard. Thankfully, most people were content to just take pictures of him shopping. Probably because they were bemused at the weirdly domestic sight of him shopping for ice cream, cold packs, and ibuprofen.

While he was being rung up at the checkout lane, the cashier raised an eyebrow. “Rough morning?”

“You could say that,” Adrien replied with a sigh.

“You know, I’m sure the hospital has plenty of this stuff if you’re that worried about her.” He scowled. “Although, it serves her right, if you ask me.”

Surprised, Adrien asked, “Who’s at the hospital?”

“What, you haven’t heard? It was all over the news this morning.”

Adrien winced. After their date last night, his entire world consisted of their apartment until he left late this morning. What could have possibly happened in that small time frame?

“Nathalie Sancoeur turned herself in at a hospital. Apparently, she got really sick, the docs don’t know what it is, and she’s under police supervision until she is fit enough to stand trial.”

It felt at once like a punch to the gut and as if a heavy load had been lifted off his shoulders. The feeling of betrayal had faded, but that scar was still fresh. But she was the last figure from his childhood still around - the last remnant of his family since Gabriel’s trial was just a formality before he’d get locked away for life. Still, the peacock miraculous was in grasp - assuming the police hadn’t taken it.

His eyes widened with sudden realization and he nearly dropped his bags in shock. It couldn’t be a coincidence that Marinette got sick at the same time, right? Did something happen that got them both sick?

While paying for the groceries, Adrien asked, “Can you tell me which hospital she is at?”

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

“...And that’s all I know so far.” Adrien glanced between his council of two kwami, who were sharing meaningful looks of their own with each other. “Well? Is my gut right, or is this just a coincidence?”

“Well,” Tikki began hesitantly, “If something had happened to the peacock miraculous, then it could have rippled out and affected Marinette.”

“But why? Wouldn’t it only have affected Nathalie?”

“All the miraculous are connected, Adrien. They form a balance between one another - perhaps not as potent as the balance between me and Plagg, but still.”

He rubbed his eyes. He was struggling not to panic, but it was getting harder the deeper he got into things beyond his knowledge. “Okay… But why didn’t it affect me then?”

“Nooroo and Dusuu’s powers were centered around creating things - whether it be super powers or monsters. That tied them closer to me. And if something did happen to further damage the Peacock miraculous, then that would just fed into Plagg’s powers of destruction.”

“Aren’t you lucky, kid.” Plagg sat on Adrien’s shoulder. “We should probably check in on old Nathalie. If nothing else, we need to fix the Peacock miraculous.”

“Will that make Marinette feel better?” Adrien glanced hopefully between the two.

Tikki gave him a reassuring smile. “Marinette will feel better either way. This is just a backwash of energy making her sick. She’ll be fine in a couple days, especially now that I know what the problem is.”

“Nathalie, on the other hand…” Plagg grimaced. “The faster we rescue Dusuu the better her odds are of recovering.”

Adrien looked longingly toward their bedroom door. Tikki seemed to pick up on this and reassured him, “Don’t worry, I can take care of her for a little while longer. Hurry back, but remember to drop off the Peacock miraculous with Master Fu!”

“Right,” Adrien nodded. “Plagg, claws out!”

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

It was midafternoon by the time Chat Noir finally stood before Nathalie once again. The warnings that the kwami had giving him about misuse of the miraculous were confirmed as he saw how pale and weak she looked. Despite being only skin and bones, she was still handcuffed to the hospital bed.

Adrien nodded to the pair of police officers. “Gentlemen. Can you give us a moment?”

One of them seemed about to protest, but he was elbowed by the other. “Of course, Chat Noir. We’ll be just outside if you need us.”

Once he heard the door shut behind them, he turned his attention back to Nathalie. She hadn’t spoken since he entered, but her eyes had never left him. Was it anger or regret he saw there? He pulled up a chair and sat down next to her.

“Adrien.” There was no hint of a question or accusation in her voice. Just a statement of fact. Somehow, he wasn’t surprised.

He knew he should ask for the miraculous. It would be the smart thing to do. Even knowing that, he couldn’t help but repeat the question he had asked her during their last confrontation. “Why would you side with him?”

Her lips curled up in distaste. “He promised that he could bring back someone I cared about. It doesn’t matter now. None of this does.”

To his shame, he had no idea who she could be talking about. Despite how much she micromanaged his life, he knew next to nothing about hers. But she was right - it was too late for that now.

“You can at least try to make things right.”

“No, I don’t think I can.” She reached into her pocket, and Adrien tensed up, expecting her to vanish once again. Instead, she pulled out her hand and Adrien reach out with his. She dropped a long sliver of a teal crystal in his palm.

“What… what is this?”

“That,” she said, pointing towards the crystal, “is a fragment of the Peacock miraculous.”

[sweltering-in-central-city]

Character Bio

General

Name: Leia Morales

Nicknames:

• Princessa (by her mother)

• Morales (by her old boss and every sports player she used to be friends with in high school)

• Swelter (by Team Flash; codename given to her by Cisco, unbeknownst to her)

Gender: Female

Date of Birth: 05/14/1991

Age: 30

Occupations:

• Comic Book Store Cashier (formerly)

• Superhero-in-training (formerly/timeline-dependent)

• Criminal Underling

Sexuality: Biromantic Asexual (undiscovered)

Religion: Non-practicing Catholic

Species: Metahuman

Nationality: American

Ethnicity: Mixed

Appearance

Eye Color: Brown

Hair Color: Brown

Hair Length: Medium

Height: 5'2"

Skintone: Natural

Body Type: Mesomorph

Tattoos:

• A small stick and poke Rebel Alliance symbol on the inside of her left ankle

Piercings:

• Earlobes (unfilled)

Scars: N/A

Birthmarks: N/A

Clothing: Fandom shirts, hoodies, jeans, and sneakers

Accessories: Woven bracelets, reading glasses, and simple chain necklaces

Other:

• Generally keeps hair tied up

Favorites

Song: American Pie - Don McLean

Color: Orange

Food: Pernil

Drink: Malta con Leche Condensada

Weather: Fair

Time of Day: Late night

Season: Fall

Music Genre: 80's Rock

Book Genre: Sci-fi

Personality

Likes/Dislikes:

✓ Going to the gym

✓ Bike-riding

✓ Reading

✓ Binge-watching shows

✓ Listening to music (mostly oldies and Latin songs) 

✓ Gardening and other outdoor activities

✓ Animals (especially reptiles)

✓ Comic books

✓ Going to conventions

☓ Dealing with rude customers

☓ Alcohol

☓ Cigarettes

☓ Overly feminine clothing and accessories (for herself)

☓ Egoists

☓ Seeing people in pain

Attitude:

Leia is a very fun-loving and outgoing person naturally. She is a huge geek and a bit of a tomboy as well. Leia is also extremely protective and empathetic towards people she cares about. She often struggles with anxiety, mostly when making tough decisions or when she feels like she's being rushed. Unfortunately, she's also dealt with underlying timidity and submission due to trauma throughout her life, and for a long time after captivity, her anxiety and compassion became the only recognizable parts of her original personality.

General Mood: Determined

Mental Strengths:

• Intelligent

• Observant

• Great Mediator

Mental Weaknesses

• Terrible under pressure and tends to make bad decisions

• Doubts herself

• Easily overwhelmed

Habits:

• Listening to music while exercising or cleaning

• Constantly presses her snooze button and barely gets anywhere on time

• Snacks a lot when stressed

Quirks:

• Occasionally dances to the music in her head or has imaginary jam sessions when bored, pencil drumsticks and all (pre-captivity)

• Sometimes chews her hair or the eraser of a pencil when in deep thought

Fears:

• Not being able to provide for her mother when she's older

• Hurting people she cares about

• Becoming someone people fear

• Her powers

• James

• Her dad

Obsessions:

• Star Wars

• Marvel

• Harry Potter

• Animorphs

• Power Rangers

• Ninja Turtles

• Reptiles

• D&D

Health

Allergies:

• Cashews (formerly)

Mental Conditions:

• Anxiety

• Depression

• ADHD

• C-PTSD

Illnesses:

• None currently

Eyesight: Poor; near-sighted

Hearing: Good

Sense of smell: Good

Combat & Abilities

Weapons:

• Whatever's close (usually none)

Powers:

• Heat manipulation  (Leia has the ability to generate heat from her body. She can raise the temperature of her body, raise the temperature of her surroundings, melt, burn, or combust most things that she touches, and send waves of heat towards her enemies.)

Abilities:

• Bilingual (Spanish and English)

• Very intelligent (not genius level or anything, but enough to get through AP classes with straight A’s)

• Decent fighter

Physical Strengths:

• Healthy and fit (pre-captivity)

• Years of experience in multiple sports

• Height makes it easier to get into small spaces

Physical Weaknesses:

• Doesn't have control over powers

• Struggles with running for long periods of time

• Height also makes it difficult to reach high places and perform other feats

Relationships

Father:

▵ William Doherty | 59 | Unknown ▵

• Generally a charming man but lets his true colors shine after he's known someone for a while. Extremely self-absorbed and ignorant of other people's needs, he eventually destroys every long-term relationship he forms.

• Leia had no issues with her dad until she was around 6 or 7 and got himself into a tough financial spot. He started to get really angry all the time and yell about everything. Sometimes, he said things that hurt, but it took a while to realize that he would only become worse. Leia hasn't had any contact with her dad since the night he hit her mom.

Mother:

▵ Cassandra Morales | 53 | Alive ▵

• A sweet, kind lady with a huge heart. She enjoys spending time with her daughters and going to church. Her greatest faults are that she sometimes plays too much into superstition but she's also pretty naive and trusts too easily.

• Leia loves her mom and tries to do as much as she can for her. She really stepped up when her mom was going through her divorce. The two of them were very close before Leia got her powers.

Sister/Sibling:

▵ Jessie Morales | 17 | Alive ▵

• Very energetic and slightly mischievous. She's a bit of a geek, just like her sister. She enjoys playing sports and video games, and she absolutely loves horror movies. She's also recently discovered that she's non-binary, but Leia doesn't know that yet.

• Leia practically raised Jessie, so she looks up to her a lot. Their relationship is a mix between siblings, best friends, and a parent-child relationship. They were pretty much inseparable before the accident.

Significant Others:

▵ James Oh | 30 | Alive ▵

• He seems like the perfect guy: good grades, captain of the football team, working on his Doctorate in Business... but all the praise he's received over the years has made him narcissistic and self-entitled. He also has abusive and manipulative tendencies

• Leia started dating James as a junior in high school, when he was a senior. With every popular girl out there going after him, she was surprised that he settled for someone as geeky and awkward as her. People only used to know about her because she was a good athlete, but she didn't really have any friends until she started dating James. Everyone wanted to hang out with her after that. Of course, she knew James could be a bit full of himself, but he treated her so well and her mom liked him so much, she found it easy to look past his flaws. Once the two of them were out of high school, however, James became more controlling. He made her dress more femininely when they went out and pressured her into doing things she wasn't comfortable with. She no longer loved him, but he was the only person outside of her family who had shown her real affection, and he'd done a thorough job of making sure she was dependent on him. He only cared about how good she made him look, so as soon as he found out that she was a meta and had no intention to take advantage of it, he dumped her. Since Flashpoint, he no longer knows about her newfound powers, but given how long she’s been missing, she’s pretty sure he’s moved on.

▵ Cisco Ramon | 30 | Alive ▵

• Cisco often stopped by the comic shop Leia worked at. Sometimes he bought stuff, sometimes he didn't, but Leia always had fun talking to him. Cisco was always nice to her, and he was the closest she'd ever gotten to having a real friend. When things started to get really bad with James, Cisco noticed her change in mood. He seemed a bit put off by learning that she had a boyfriend, but he offered to take her out for coffee a few times and tried to comfort her. Even though she was still dating James, Leia couldn't help but develop a small crush on Cisco, and she really hoped that if she ever worked up the nerve to end things with James, he might feel the same way about her. Once Leia joined the team, and after James broke up with her, she and Cisco did eventually admit to liking each other; they were going to try dating once they didn't have Zoom to deal with anymore, but then Flashpoint happened, and all of that was erased.

Friends:

▵ Scott Jeffries | 48 | Alive ▵

• A friendly, happy-go-lucky guy. Scott is a big nerd with an even bigger heart. He tries to make everyone happy and is loved by everyone who knows him.

• Scott was Leia's boss at the comic store. He and Leia had a somewhat father-daughter relationship. Scott adores Leia's geekiness and desire to help others, and she enjoys his warm, friendly personality. He always tried to look out for her, which she insisted was unnecessary but appreciated anyway.

▵ Caitlin Snow | 30 | Alive ▵

• Before Flashpoint, Leia and Caitlin had grown pretty close. Caitlin was the first girl Leia had befriended who she didn't have to put on a fake persona around and who was actually supportive of her. Now, Leia would only sorta recognize her from the brief period of time where they both worked for Amunet.

▵ Barry Allen | 30 | Alive ▵

• Leia really looked up to Barry, and it took a while for her to stop seeing him as just “the Flash”, but eventually she realized he was just a normal guy she could geek out with like the others. He’s the only one on their Earth who would still remember her besides Jefferson Jackson and Mick Rory.

▵ Harry Wells | 57 | Unknown ▵

• Although Leia initially disliked Harry's blunt personality and effect on Cisco, through their time spent at S.T.A.R. Labs together, she came to see him as another father figure and friend.

[ramajmedia]

Misfits: The 5 Best (And 5 Worst Couples) | ScreenRant

When you're stuck doing community service in a dull neighborhood in London, there's not much to stop you from hooking up with your fellow societal disruptors. Not even getting cool super powers in a freak geo-storm changes that sort of human behavior. Misfits, the popular British series that wondered what would happen if ordinary reprobates suddenly gained superhuman abilities, ran for five seasons and proved a welcome respite to the ordinarily upbeat superhero shows on television.

RELATED: Misfits: The 5 Best Powers (& The 5 Weirdest)

It's premise and at times depressing atmosphere was made accessible by the strength of its young leads, each responsible for moments of great tenderness, black comedy, and gripping drama. As they all dealt with their powers in different ways, they also developed feelings for one another. Here are the 5 best, and 5 worst couples of the series. It's available to stream on Hulu.

10 BEST: SIMON AND ALISHA

While they might seem like complete opposites on the outside (Simon is a lonely introvert, and Alisha is a beautiful social butterfly), what make them different from one another also make them complementary. Alisha helps Simon become more confident in his abilities, and he keeps Alisha grounded and practical.

Simon treats Alisha as more than a pretty face, and she makes Simon realize he is worthy enough to be noticed. Simon begins the series with the power of invisibility, but later changes it to clairvoyance. Alisha began with the ability to make anyone sexually desire her, and traded it to be able to see through another person's eyes. Unfortunately, their relationship is doomed once they experience a tragic time loop.

9 WORST: SIMON AND SALLY

Simon and Sally's "relationship" was unfortunate from start to finish. It began with the two of them meeting at the community center where Sally was the new probation worker. Simon and the gang had no idea she was secretly gathering information as the disappearance of their previous probation worker, who happened to be her fiance.

Related: Netflix Developing The One Adaptation From Misfits Creator

She manipulates Simon from the beginning, appearing as a lonely girl online for him to speak to in a chatroom, as well as using her feigned empathy to his antisocial behaviors in real life to  get close to him. After he discovers what she's been up to one of their dates, he's forced to kill her. She would come back as a ghost later to cause trouble for him and Alisha.

8 BEST: ALISHA AND CURTIS

One of the first pairings to occur on the show, Alisha and Curtis seemed like the perfect match. Alisha was popular because of her good looks and vivacious personality, while Curtis was a previously famous track star with a lot of potential outside of community service.

Unfortunately, due to Alisha's powerful affect, they couldn't be intimate, which strained them in ways they didn't anticipate. Eventually, it was her realizing her feelings for Sam that drove a wedge between them that Curtis could sent, resulting in them calling it quits.

7 WORST: NATHAN AND MARNIE

While Nathan never exhibited any indication he was going to end up with a real winner, some random pregnant girl he meets in the corridors of the community center requires a little mental gymnastics to accept. They're virtual strangers, but before long he's introducing her to the rest of the crew and then later delivering her baby.

Why Nathan would suddenly care about anyone other than himself, going so far as to sell his power (immortality, a Class A power) for a measly two thousand pounds for someone he barely knows, is a struggle to believe. Nathan does a 180 in personality without any character development, and promptly leaves the show with Marnie.

6 BEST: KELLY AND BRUNO

She was a girl. He was a gorilla turned into a boy. Their meeting was by chance, but it turned into one of the most meaningful romantic moments in the series. She could read his thoughts, and knew that the way he felt about her was different than other boys her age.

Related: 10 Most Powerful Characters Of Misfits Ranked

Unfortunately, she didn't find out that the kind, hulking boy she met had formerly been a gorilla before the geo-storm, whose only wish was to be human and find a nice human girl. He's shot and killed by police, and he dies in Kelly's arms, telling her it was worth being human just to meet and be with her.

5 WORST: CURTIS AND NIKKI

We didn't get to know Nikki long enough to decide if she was the best for Curtis or not, because a stray bullet takes her out in a robbery that should never have happened. Before that though, her and Curtis were planning on traveling the world with the money they'd made selling their powers.

Nikki came into Curtis's life when he was still trying to determine how he felt about Alisha, and her very presence seemed to make that decision for him. He ultimately decided to see where things would go with Nikki, and she always seemed like a rebound, without any real personality.

4 BEST: KELLY AND SETH

One of the best couples of the series was Kelly and Seth, probably because they were the most successful and ended up lasting the longest. Even fan favorites Simon and Alisha had temporal anomalies get in the way of their relationship, dooming them to a tragic time loop forever.

Related: Misfit Reboot Finds Its Leads

While Simon and Alisha were doomed to save each other and die for each other perpetually, Seth and Kelly formed an unlikely bond. Seth liked Kelly's unapologetic attitude, and Kelly liked Seth's grounded practicality. Not even his resurrected zombie girlfriend could tear them apart.

3 WORST: RUDY AND JESS

When Rudy appeared on the show, he took the place of fan favorite Nathan, who starred in the first two seasons and then left for greener pastures (catch the actor in The Umbrella Academy). This left a hole for a rowdy, foul-mouthed rogue, and Rudy fit that times two. Literally, because his power meant he had two (and at one point) three versions of himself.

When he finally curbed his lecherous ways to be with Jess, it seemed forced. Jess, a new addition to the cast in Season 3, didn't begin to fully develop as a character until Season 4, and her power to see through solid objects revealed to her many times what a lout Rudy was, making their relationship very awkward.

2 BEST: JESS AND ALEX

Alex joined the cast as a regular in Season 4, and was nothing more than a barman with Curtis at the local pub when Jess first set her eyes on him. Reserved and distant at first, Jess assumed he didn't like her, but he was really under the control of someone else's power despite having none of his own.

When he received a lung transplant from a victim of the storm, he gained the ability to take powers from others by being intimate with them, and in Season 5 heroically saves Jess by breaking into the community center when a possessed Finn is attacking her. It's a shame she would actually end up with Rudy.

1 WORST: CURTIS AND LOLA

Lola mesmerized Curtis from the moment he laid eyes on her - she was striking, with dark hair and pale skin, and often wore vintage inspired clothing that evoked a femme fatale aesthetic. She was in fact a black widow, turned into the character she was auditioning for at her community theater when the storm struck.

She lured Curtis into a relationship, and made him kill her ex, a man who knew how she really treated men. When Curtis resurrected him to learn the truth about her, Curtis was bitten, sealing his fate on the series as a zombie that would need to be eventually killed off.

NEXT: Arrowverse: The 5 Best and 5 Worst Couples

source https://screenrant.com/misfits-best-worst-couples/

[alltheworldsrpg-blog]

WELCOME TO ROSWELL, ZARA RHODES!!

ADMIN CAMERON: What caught my attention about Zara was how carefully she was written, The Halogen’s past can go south very easily and you were able to handle that with grace. The plot section of your app really gives me confidence about her future growth as a character, and her dynamic with The Pulsar is everything I was looking for and some. 

You’ve been accepted as THE HALOGEN with the faceclaim of JESSICA DE GOUW. Please follow all rules and regulations as laid out by the Roswell Town Council, especially concerning any non pre-approved biologic. All UFO’s outside of city limits must be stickered or will be towed. Enjoy your stay in the first city of extraterrestrials.

OUT OF CHARACTER.

NAME/ALIAS + PRONOUNS:

Riley, he/him

AGE:

18+

TIMEZONE + ACTIVITY:

GMT. I don’t know about numbers, but I’m usually active every couple of days at least. I might not always be on tumblr because it’s blocked at work but I tend to write in notepad then post when I get home during quiet spells, and I’m off on Wednesdays and weekends.

TRIGGERS:

Removed for privacy. 

ANYTHING ELSE?:

I like sci-fi, superheroes and social justice. And I love this rp.

IN CHARACTER.

SKELETON TITLE:

The Halogen

FULL NAME:

Zara Rhodes – Zara means to blossom, I chose it because she’s only just starting to figure out who she is and developing into that person. Her motives might have been selfish and not entirely pure but she’s still growing. I chose the name Rhodes because I liked the sound of it and it summons images of loftiness and pretentiousness in my head.

GENDER + PRONOUNS:

Cisgender female, she/her

SEXUAL + ROMANTIC ORIENTATION:

Panromantic Pansexual

DATE OF BIRTH + AGE:

26 years old, July 13 2033, I chose Cancer as her star sign because they’re described as being inconsistent, difficult to predict, and seeking adventure but also security and that they keep others guessing and that’s how I picture her character.

OCCUPATION:

Law student

FACECLAIM:

Jessica De Gouw

BIOGRAPHY:

London has always been a city of immigrants, home of people from all backgrounds and walks of life, but the London Zara was born in fostered a different kind of immigration. She shared playgrounds with alien children (from the other side of the park, at her mother’s insistence), and she sat near them on the train (only when there were no other seats left, and even then her father would shield her as if she were some kind of fragile thing). From childhood, Zara knew two things; that aliens were part of life and that this was a bad thing.

She was eleven when her famous, wedding photographer father was all over the internet headlines because he’d famously refused to photograph an alien couple’s wedding. To Zara, it wasn’t such a big deal. It was his business and he should be allowed to run it the way he wanted. Her parents were business-people and it was their right to refuse those who weren’t technically human. After all, human rights laws didn’t exactly cover them. Her parents sheltered her from mixing with them as best they could, but that changed when she moved away, went to the United States for college.

Zara had lived in her dorm for only a day when her room mate casually dropped the fact they were a Centaurian in conversation. Zara was less than pleased. She made no attempt to hide her anti alien rhetoric, with slogans on shirts and posters on walls that could be classed as hate speech. She attended anti alien rallies, even tried to get them kicked out of school. She would get irritated when her room mate didn’t recognize her photographs at the campus gallery shows, even more irritated that they could hardly enjoy her work at all. After all, she was the human, and wasn’t this supposed to be all about her?

It would have been so easy to switch rooms. Her parents could even have afforded a fancy little apartment for her, and the room mate never moved either, intent on being ‘tolerant and understanding’. Zara’s motivations were less pure. She was determined to show her alien room mate a better way of life, to ‘tame’ them, and so it was almost ironic that she was the one who ended up being the student and the Centaurian the teacher. It took weeks, months, even years of debates, philosophical conversations, compassion and understanding that Zara probably didn’t deserve, but eventually it started to sink in. Aliens were a little different, but there was nothing fundamentally wrong with them. They could be friends. They could even be people you fell in love with, and boy, did Zara fall hard.

She was ashamed. She felt an intense need to make up for her actions, her blindness. Zara switched her major, choosing to pursue criminal justice as a pre-requisite for law school instead of the photography and artistic focus she’d held at the behest of her parents. Her parents didn’t take too kindly to it, especially when they discovered her reasons. She got the impression they thought she would grow out of it. But she never did. Zara used their last name to get some galleries interested in her photography and began selling it to make up for the money they were no longer so keen to send her. She even started her own online store. She wanted to be important in a different way, like her room mate was. She wanted to be an activist.

Zara never got the chance to truly share her feelings with her room mate even when graduation turned into summer turned into them renting a place together as ‘friends’. There might have been some flirting and some drunk confessions, but Zara pretends not to remember. For now. She doesn’t want to rock the boat on their living situation, and she tells herself that having recently been accepted into law school means she doesn’t have time for a relationship just yet anyway, but it’s all just an excuse. Really, she’s just waiting for the perfect moment, and she has no idea that the moment might not turn out to be perfect after all. Because the world isn’t perfect. In fact, it’s pretty broken, and Zara has yet to see just how deep the cracks go.

MUSING + HEAD-CANONS.

HEAD-CANONS:

I imagine Zara to be kind of like that activist with the best of intentions but she’s still learning. She’s come from a place of privilege with well-off human parents, upper middle class, white, and for most of her life she didn’t acknowledge or think about that. She’s only just starting out on this new journey. She’s growing as a person but she’s still in that sort of awkward stage where she doesn’t know when to talk and when to listen, and she also kind of turns her activism into a display, with social media posts etc.

Is a total pinterest ho and she loves those studyspo style pics.

Kind of a hipster.

But good intentions and has a lot of room for affection in her heart, even if it’s currently misplaced.

Zara was loved and a little spoiled as a kid. She wasn’t raised to have responsibility. She wasn’t punished for messing up and she didn’t have many rules. Who she is now is a result of the effect this can have on a child and their development so that its even affecting them as an adult in their mid 20s. Responsibility is starting to catch up with her and I find that a fascinating theme to explore. You can’t go through life as a free spirit not caring about anything in the long term, because then when you care about something completely, like Zara does now with Pulsar, then it’s kind of like a sensory overload that she doesn’t know how to handle, and now that she’s learning, for lack of a better term, social justice, she’s sort of diving in at the deep end and doesn’t really realise it takes time to be a good ally.

Her favourite color is blue, but she also likes blacks and greys. She likes pastel colors and a soothing aesthetic from her surroundings. She likes things to be neat and in order.

She still keeps up with photography, but primarily as a hobby. Selling her photos sometimes earns her a bit of pocket money and she still has her online store, but she doesn’t do much new photography for profit any more. Saying that, she’s happy to lend a hand and take snaps for the student paper or websites at local protests etc.

PLOTS + CONNECTIONS:

I want to explore the balance between responsibility and the impulsive artistic nature she has. She’s creative and intellectual, she believes so deeply in fate and chances, in a way that could something her mind used in the past to absolve her of her responsibility. She goes where her heart and impulse tells her which can be a dangerous way to live and that I feel has kind of come back to bite her now that she’s only just learning how to be a responsible adult.

The problem with being ruled by your heart and not your head is that it can get you in trouble, as you’re living a life without balance. If she’s taking her balance and the idea of morality from Pulsar that means it could be seen as a co-dependent relationship, which isn’t healthy either, but there’s also something about her and Pulsar that’s very pure and real too. Basically she’s a mess of contradictions. I love when characters have such realistic faults and they’re all rounded characters. She’s a free spirit and yet also has this dark side to her that’s capable of jealousy and insecurity and bitterness. It just feels like the realistic faults and struggles real people have, so I want to explore those.

Right now she doesn’t have any awareness of the fact Pulsar doesn’t feel the same way about her. She’s got a kind of confidence and sort of detachment from reality that she hasn’t picked up on any subtle cues that might have been dropped, but also the skeleton implies Pulsar might be leading her on a bit, which gives a few various avenues to explore when Zara actually finds out about it. I can see her reacting in a few different ways. She’s probably initially going to be pretty angry and upset. She’s going to be jealous of anyone Pulsar might be spending time with, but she doesn’t want to push the issue so she would instead focus on being angry that Pulsar wasn’t honest with her from the beginning.

I think it’s important not to fall into the trope of “I became a better person for you, so you owe me your love” especially as in this situation, Zara is sort of in the position of the oppressor, but I do think it might take her a bit of time to accept the reality of the situation because she’s so used to people fawning over her and thinking she’s fantastic. I want to try and find a balance between her disappointment and her spoiled attitude but also the fact she does respect Pulsar as a person and their free will.

I’d like to see her be exposed to some of the resistance people and be a little shocked and have her eyes opened about what a different form of activism looks like. It can be dark and gritty. It isn’t always sitting in a classroom learning about alien rights laws and spouting philosophy.

I’d also like her to come into contact with the anti alien people who she used to pal around with and who she turned her back on when she started listening to Pulsar and fell in love.

Those are the sort of connections I can see her building too. She’s kind of in an interesting position being that she’s touched on and has the ability to be part of both worlds. She tries to stay clear of the anti alien people now, but it would be interesting for some of them to try and tempt her back in, and especially if they do it to sort of take advantage of her being upset after she learns about Pulsar not reciprocating her feelings. Contrast to that, the types of aliens or alien supporters who use a more radical form of approach than Pulsar does I’d love to see her interact with and see how she responds to that.

WRITING SAMPLE:

Removed for privacy.

ETC:

https://ru.pinterest.com/mccluskry/zara/  Pinterest for her

http://vigilantwriter.tumblr.com/tagged/insp%3A-zara and my muse tag for her including some edits (its a queue so the tag will get bigger as my queue posts them)

[yoursummerfrost]

sidogosidhgjkv hi it’s OFC day for @omgcpwomenfest so I wanted to introduce everyone to Shani, a character I created for the fic I’m publishing this weekend but will probably appear in future stories too! Have some random headcanons that are sort of AU-flexible and don’t always apply (notably, in future stories Shani might be poly but in her original story she’s monogamous).

Feel free to send me asks or message me about Shani! I love her so much! Going under the cut bc it got long af.

Shanelle “Shani” Grady-Troy

Shani is a Black woman who grew up in Long Island and loves sports

Her favorite is baseball because she used to play it with her dad

She played softball for a while but she was pretty solidly mediocre and gave it up

She has a lot of hangups about achievement and struggles to find something she enjoys worthwhile if she isn’t fantastic at it

Softball was never going to get her a college scholarship but her grades could so she put everything she had into those

She also likes hockey, but she prefers women’s hockey to men’s and she chirps Jeff and Kent about it constantly

As for men’s teams, though, she likes the Mets and the Islanders the most, and psuedo-begrudgingly cheers for whatever team Jeff is playing for at the time

She and Kent bond over their love for the Mets because Kent grew up in Brooklyn. One time Jeff mentions how A-rod seems pretty chill and he nearly doesn’t survive the combined assault

As the name implies, she’s married to Kent’s mysterious teammate, Jeff Troy

They met in like 2005 in New York, when Troy still played for the Rangers

But they didn’t get married until 2010

Shani rejected Troy’s first proposal because she was still in school 

If you asked her what she thinks about fighting in the NHL she’d condemn it loudly and whole-heartedly 

But she’s secretly kinda into it

She shares exactly one (1) secret with Eric R. Bittle more on their relationship later and it’s this and only bc he admits he’s into it first

She likes fussing over Jeff when he comes home with bruises and shit

It makes her feel like the heroine in a superhero movie 

Shani is a Nurse Practitioner who works in the ER 

She’s a badass and she sees a counselor on a semi-regular basis because the ER is rough and it takes its toll whether you’re a badass or not

She’s unapologetic about the fact she has a therapist

She’s also unapologetically bisexual and it took her a long time to get there but she will Take No Shit about it now

When things started getting serious with Jeff some of her queer friends gave her a hard time

She felt like she was betraying her queerness by dating a dude and betraying her Blackness by dating a white dude

But she had other friends in the community who were more supportive and she realized that she wasn’t the one erasing herself

She ends up staying with Jeff and most of her friends apologized for their bierasure when she stood up for herself

Jeff identifies as straight but is definitely the Overly Invested Ally stereotype and usually has a Bi Awakening at some point, but until then this conversation happens a lot:

Shani: the Straights are at it again

Jeff: but babe I’m straight

Shani: I know and I love you anyway

Shani being openly bisexual is one of the reasons Jeff (and her, by extension) is the first person Kent comes out to in Vegas

Shani likes plans

Jeff has zero plans. He jokes that his wife has enough plans for the both of them. Shani is unironically pleased by this truth

Shani has plans for situations in the ER, for every vacation their family will ever take, for emergencies with their children

She also has a plan for when her fiance’s favorite rookie shows up at their door suicidal at 3 am because God forbid they’re unprepared for that one again

Shani will always love plans but she’s learning to be a little more flexible

In universes where they’re poly she’s in charge of scheduling and making sure everyone has comfy boundaries etc

Her relationship with Kent fluctuates based on the circumstances but she’s always super protective of him and platonically affectionate

They have the cutest cheek kisses and cuddle sessions

In ‘verses where Jeff and Kent are dating, Shani and Kent still don’t have a sexual relationship it’s just not Them

They probably try it once like

They’ll be snuggling on the couch and a little tipsy from some wine with dinner and just look at each other. And they lean in and kiss, and when they pull away they just look at each other and go “Nahh” and go back to chirping Jeff for his terrible fashion sense

She’s very aware of the fact that her husband is Gone on her and has been since they met, and she’s super secure in their relationship

Jeff is worried when he starts getting closer to Kent at first and he always asks Shani if she’s okay with stuff

Jeff: Um. Hi babe. Would it be okay if I cuddled with Kent sometimes? He just seems so lonely sometimes and–

Shani: Kent Parson is a Sad Boy who deserves to be swaddled with affection at literally all times and I would be disappointed if you didn’t want to cuddle him.

Jeff: ….so yes?

Shani: Yes thank you for asking

She worries about Kent sometimes though especially if Jeff hasn’t had his Bisexual Awakening yet

Kent is definitely lowkey crushing on Jeff and she doesn’t want Kent to get hurt

It can get a little manipulative when Kent’s mental illnesses aren’t being well controlled and Shani struggles with being sensitive to it without letting her and Jeff be taken advantage of

Shani doesn’t like Bitty at first

She has a fundamental mistrust of White Southern Boys who are too polite and nice all the time

Kent: Eric Bittle is a ray of sunshine who’s never done anything wrong in his entire life

Shani: Seems Fake But Okay

It’s not that she doesn’t think Bitty’s a good person it’s just that she likes people who say what they mean and Bitty Does Not Do That

She can’t tell when he’s being genuine because everything is hidden behind 72.5 layers of passive-aggression and pettiness and southern charm

It’s unsettling just say how you feel god dammit

Jeff kindly tries to remind her that Kent Parson only says what he means an approximate 45.32% of the time

she ignores him entirely 

Also she can tell Kent is 3000% in love with Bitty and if he breaks Kent’s heart Shani will destroy him

She doesn’t really come around until she realizes how genuinely happy Bitty makes Kent and that he’s in this for the long haul like Kent is

They’re never best friends but they can get along just fine

 Shani doesn’t like Jack either but she kind of does

Jack is like the opposite of Bitty in that Shani likes him as a person but has a hard time forgiving what he did to Kent

Jeff kindly tries to remind her that Kent was also a certifiable asshole to Jack on multiple occasions

she ignores him entirely

She has a devastating sense of humor that basically just involves dragging everyone she loves at all times

She’s also super nosy and can and will find out everything about your life

She doesn’t gossip about Important things though

She will absolutely tell the story about the time Kent burned a pot of spaghetti and set off their fire alarm at literally every opportunity but she will take his sexuality to her fucking grave

Has no problems spending Jeff’s money and letting him spoil her but also would never give up her career

It’s not like she thinks something would happen between them but she’s also not stupid and she knows no one thinks their marriage will end in a nasty divorce or–

she doesn’t like to think about the other terrible way marriages can end but she’s prepared for it, is the thing

So she wants to have a career she can support herself and the kids with if she needs to

She also genuinely likes being a nurse even if it runs her into the ground

This is like the one thing she and Bitty bond over

How do you be your own person and feel successful when your partner is literally a millionaire?

Speaking of kids Shani and Jeff have two children and she loves them endlessly

She suffered from a pretty awful bout of postpartum depression after the birth of their first child and went to therapy (outside of her normal counseling) for it

She still carries a lot of shame for that even though she’s trying to forgive herself and accept that it wasn’t her fault

When she was pregnant with her second kid she was terrified she’d go through it again

She almost didn’t want to conceive again and they talked about adoption instead but in the end she decided to get pregnant

She wasn’t clinically depressed after the second pregnancy but didn’t feel great, either

She’s iffy on having a third kid anyway but she’ll definitely adopt this time if they do

She just doesn’t like being pregnant or the aftermath of pregnancy 

She’d rather skip forward to the blowing raspberries on tummies and changing diapers parts 

This got like really long lmao and I still feel like I said way less than I meant to?? Seriously come chat w me about her if you want she’s great. 

[cloverscircle-blog]

NOAH PARSONS is TWENTY-FOUR years old and lives in HOLYWELL. He is a MALE and works as a VETERINARY TECHNICIAN at ST. ASAPH PET CLINIC. He has been in Clovers Circle for 24 YEARS, is portrayed by KEITH POWERS, and is played by ADMIN T.

Trigger Warnings: death.

Growing up, Noah never really understood the financial struggles his family underwent. He watched as food was placed on the table, clothes were hung in his closet, and warmth filled his home during the colder winters. He never really understood the stress behind his parents’ jobs, both of whom worked two jobs in order to take care of the family. In turn, Noah was raised by his older brother, Oscar: his very own superhero. With a strict ten-year age difference between the two brothers, Noah often looked up to Oscar as if he was personally sent down to him as a protector from the world around him. When he got beat up on the playground for being a Bardsey, Oscar would teach him how to throw a punch. When he failed a math test and nearly failed fifth grade, Oscar was the one who stayed up late into the night making sure he understood the problems. Noah’s love for his family was always more intense than anyone could describe, but it wasn’t before long that he felt like they were keeping him more in the dark than he deserved to be. He was nine when it happened. When the banker showed up and gave the warning for foreclosure on the house. When Oscar came home for Christmas and never went back to school. When he began selling all birthday gifts and returning all Christmas gifts just so his parents could pay their mortgage. When he saw Oscar show up to dinner one day in a G.I. Joe uniform that brought his mother to tears and locked her in her room for nearly a week. She didn’t even say goodbye when he left.

Noah often tried to tell himself that life wasn’t as different without Oscar around, but even he couldn’t ignore the lack of familial activities; eating frozen TV dinners on his own; leaving home two hours early just so he could walk to school on time; hanging out at the local library just so he could watch the news he was only beginning to understand. Noah did the best he could. He’d mow lawns for five dollars and help old man Rhett take out his trash for two. When he was old enough, he started a dog walking business, hanging up handmade flyers all around town—including Swansea and St. Asaph’s—in the hope of generating some business. Tired of seeing his parents missing each other as they came and went from job to job, and at the mature age of thirteen, Noah knew it was time to take up the ropes that Oscar left behind. If his brother could send money back home, then why couldn’t Noah provide some as well? Much to his surprise, Noah’s dog-walking business took off—though why adults would trust a thirteen-year-old boy with their pets was beyond him—and his passion, his love, for animals came to the surface. Perhaps it was a Parsons thing. Noah knew Oscar gave up his dream of becoming a veterinary surgeon to join the military and maybe this was the universe righting itself. Excitement grew within him easily as each day passed, reminding him that he made the right choice. At fourteen, Noah volunteered at the local animal shelter and his dog-walking business grew into a makeshift animal spa as well. Noah was doing his best, albeit stealing supplies from the shelter for his business was probably not the best course of action, but if it meant he could help his parents pay the bills, then nothing else mattered.

Thanksgiving, 2009. Noah would never forget the sight of his mother crumpling to the floor as two uniformed guards showed up on their doorstep to deliver the news. Two weeks later, Noah stood beside his father as a reverend preached to the crowed and Oscar was lowered into his grave, leaving nothing behind except his memories and dog tags. Oscar died and his father picked up more hours, his mother locked herself up in her room, and for the first time in his entire life, Noah was scared. He remembered when Oscar was fifteen, larger than life. So why did he feel so small? Useless? Oscar would have known what to do. Eventually, a death gratuity check arrived in the mail—$100,000 for the death of a loved one. While Noah’s father hooted in joy, none of them ever knowing that much money before, Noah’s mother only slipped further into reclusion. Still, one hundred thousand dollars can only go so far. After paying the next mortgage payments and couple months of bills, Mr. Parsons insisted on putting the rest toward Noah’s inevitable tuition. College. How could Noah have forgotten? He was supposed to go to college. Get a degree. Become a vet. Like hell… Noah knew there was no way he’d get a degree with the current state of home, cost his parents tens of thousands of dollars, without the income brought in by Oscar and his mother. Noah held his ground against his father, facing every argument head-on and knowing what would be better for him would be worse for the family overall. Noah knew what he had to do.

By the time graduation came around, Noah had applied to universities to appease his father, but also met with multiple recruiters about his future in the armed forces. Following in his brother’s footsteps, Noah spent each day building up the courage to finally go in and become another soldier of active duty. By summer’s end, he’d be shipped off to God knows where, but at least his parents wouldn’t have to worry about money anymore. Then the acceptance letters came pouring in. Somehow, Noah had gotten into every single university he applied to. Come fall, he’d be on his way to become a veterinary surgeon: just like Oscar wanted. Noah had a decision to make. A decision he thought he had made until the day his mother finally emerged from her depression to speak to her son for the first time since her firstborn’s death. She couldn’t lose another son to war. She couldn’t sit in a house waiting for two men to show up at her door. She couldn’t watch as her son risked his life. For weeks, she begged and cried and pleaded for Noah to just go to college; to stop worrying about money; to have a life outside of Bardsey Grove where, it seemed, the Parsons family line only lived to die. 

❛❛  no matter the dream, it’s okay to remind yourself why you dreamt it in the first place ❜❜

Clover’s Circle has been and, it seemed, will always be his home. After six years of schooling, Noah knew that Clover’s Circle was where he was meant to be. With his new job as a veterinary technician at St. Asaph’s Pet Clinic and an apartment in Holywell, Noah believed that maybe his life would actually start to hold some good fortune. Losing his mother in his fifth year of school was hard, but, as much as he hated to admit it, not entirely surprising. He had lost hope for his mother long ago when her last spark of life was used to keep him stateside and out of war. Still, once a week, Noah makes it a promise to go and visit his brother and his mother’s grave at the local cemetery, updating them on his life and all that is happening within the town. The new arrival of a mystery has stirred up some drama amongst many of the inhabitants, but at the same time, it seems as if she belonged here all along. Noah was doing fine for himself, he’d like to say. His new apartment was nicer than anything he had lived in before, despite what others might say. His job at the pet clinic was better than he could ever imagine. His love life… Well, that was something he still had yet to update his mother on. Noah blamed most of that on the fact he could never afford to have a girlfriend—dates always out of the question—and there was too much baggage in his life to bring a girl into. Besides, who would want to date a Bardsey? Someone whose family could barely afford groceries.

He's trying. Though he would never admit it to his father, the fact that he never joined the military was the best thing to ever happen to him. Noah was never as brave as Oscar and he never would have fit into that militant mentality. You couldn’t count on five hands how many detentions Noah got in high school for insubordination. Still, he’s trying. With a couple more years of experience under his belt, and the chance to save up some more money, Noah believed he had the ability to go back to school and become the surgeon he always wanted to be. These days, Noah’s just trying to get it all figured out. His job at the local pet clinic and volunteer hours at the animal shelter take up most of his day, but there are still those moments he finds himself walking throughout the town, taking in the sights and the people as a way to clear his head. It was funny how much he had changed since his younger years. Nowadays, Noah finds himself too afraid to get close to anyone at the fear of losing them like everyone else that mattered to him. He wasn’t sure if he could stand another heartbreak or if it would just make him go crazy. There’s no need to worry, of course, because it wasn’t like Noah was lonely. After all, he has his animals. Right?

✽ — Anyone who even remotely knows the Parsons boys understands how close the two of them were to each other. The age difference never seemed to be a problem in terms of them getting along, some might say it brought them closer, so it’s no surprise how much Oscar’s death affected young Noah. Still to this day, Noah wears his brother’s dog tags at all times, usually found tucked beneath whatever shirt he is wearing. As close to his heart as possible.

✽ — For now, at least, Noah only has one pet, though he urges you to understand that she is the first of many. Found on a state road, Noah rescued Rosie within his first week back post-grad. Just a puppy, Rosie’s a sweet Australian shepherd-golden retriever mix, though Noah’s certain there’s more breeds mixed in. Rosie may be a mutt, but she’s his mutt. 

✽ — When the stress of life gets too much, Noah can often be found on a run, usually with Rosie at his side. There is something about pounding the pavement in the early morning when nobody else is awake that really gets Noah out of his head. The habit formed his junior year of high school when he joined the cross-country team and only continued on throughout his collegiate years. His newest interest? Boxing. Thankfully, 9 to 5 offers classes three times a week, but one would be hard-pressed to find Noah spending money on unnecessary things like a workout class. 

( + ) Resourceful, Compassionate, Observant

( - ) Compulsive, Private, Argumentative

[viralhottopics]

Trump v Hollywood? Don’t expect to see the culture war play out on screen

Industry figures might march in protests or give critical speeches, but waging a crusade against the White House is not in the job description

Meryl Streep used her Golden Globes acceptance speech to fire what appeared to be an opening salvo in Americas latest culture war: Hollywood v Donald Trump.

The actor excoriated him as a xenophobic bully in a podium address that turned her Cecil B DeMille award into a rallying cry against the president-elect.

The assembled film-makers stamped and cheered and tweeted, a surge of star-studded liberal solidarity uniting the likes of Ben Affleck, Julianne Moore and Viola Davis.

Robert De Niro followed up with a congratulatory letter amplifying Streeps call to arms. I share your sentiments about punks and bullies. Enough is enough … it is so important that we ALL speak up.

Trump led a counter-charge by branding Streep, probably Hollywoods most revered actor, overrated and a Hillary Clinton flunkey, attack lines echoed by his supporters.

And so, days before the Trump era officially begins, battle is joined. Hollywoods cultural avatars going up against a president with the nuclear codes and a Republican Congress.

It would make a great movie, but theres the rub Hollywoods enmity may not transfer to the screen.

Industry figures may march in protests, fulminate in speeches and donate to Democrats yet channel little of that ardour into films and television shows.

Its more about box office than any other agenda, said Paul Dergarabedian, senior analyst for the box office tracker comScore. I dont see any particular agenda besides lots of franchises to bring people into theaters. More Marvel superheroes, more DC superheroes, more sequels.

Meryl Streep used her Golden Globes acceptance speech to criticize Donald Trump. Photograph: Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images

He was referring to big studio fare, but the industry as a whole could disappoint those hoping for a liberal, inclusive wave from Los Angeles to counter rightwing populism from Washington.

Hollywood, after all, is still dominated by white men who like to make films and shows built around other white men, fictional and real, who slash, shoot and zap other characters in the hope, ultimately, of putting butts in seats. Waging a cultural crusade against the White House is not in the job description.

You will see people stand up and use their star power to say things in front of an audience, but studios look at the bottom line, said Michele Burke, a makeup artist with two Oscars. Truly we are artists, and most people here want to create great films, great stories. But at the end of the day this is a huge money-making machine.

Nobody denies this, but Tinseltowns self-mythology dwells on its progressive, tyranny-fighting credentials Charlie Chaplin mocking Hitler in The Great Dictator; Humphrey Bogart resisting Nazis in Casablanca; Kirk Douglas, in real life, facing down McCarthyite witch-hunts.

Stars who blunder, such as Hanoi Jane Fonda posing with North Vietnamese troops during the Vietnam war, are usually forgiven. (Likewise, the music industry shook off the row about Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks chastising George W Bush.)

Hollywoods left-leaning tilt is undeniable. Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and other Democrats have long used it as an ATM, minting millions at fundraisers hosted by the likes of George Clooney and Jeffrey Katzenberg. The political analytics firm Crowdpac studied federal campaign contributions dating back to 1980 and concluded the entertainment industry was one of Americas most liberal professions, along with academia and news media.

Stars occasionally make films that echo their political views for instance, Clooneys Good Night, and Good Luck or Robert Redfords Lions for Lambs.

Boris Zelkin, a film composer who leans politically conservative/libertarian, said liberal bias was ubiquitous. Can you name a show where theres a sane or compassionate conservative? Or smart Christians without a skeleton in their closet? Or a non-evil corporation? It doesnt have to be an active jab at conservatives, its what they dont show.

Mary McNamara, the LA Timess TV critic, in contrast, scotches the notion of progressive bias, saying Hollywood wallows in nostalgia, elides class and relies on white male heroes across galaxies, through the centuries, in every genre imaginable.

Explicit political partisanship seldom works well on screen, said Marty Kaplan, director of the Norman Lear Center at the University of Southern California. Hollywood is most successful creatively as well as commercially when it conveys the American dream and the struggles to realize it. The industry loves stories about people who succeed against long odds, no matter what their backgrounds, because the audience loves those stories, too.

Movies that show struggles against prejudice, poverty, ignorance, oppression and fear reflect liberal values only in the sense that reality has a well-known liberal bias, said Kaplan, quoting Stephen Colbert. If there were big money to be made telling stories celebrating home schooling, semi-automatic rifle ownership, the bullying of gays, white supremacism, misogyny or xenophobia, Hollywood would be racing to make them.

Will Trump affect storylines?

He exploded into the presidential race in June 2015 by calling Mexican immigrants rapists and swiftly became the Republican frontrunner, without noticeable effect on studio output, said Dergarabedian, the analyst. This cycle went on for 18 months but I didnt find any impact.

Donald Trumps vandalized star along the Hollywood walk of fame is tended to and cleaned up before being replaced. Photograph: Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images

A liberal response is now stirring. The executive producer of Jane the Virgin has reportedly ditched the shows Ivanka Trump shoes and urged the writers to insert a storyline about registering Latinos to vote. ABCs Black-ish devoted an episode to his win.

But Hollywood may also start paying more heed to white, working-class Trump supporters, on and off screen. ABC Entertainment Group president Channing Dungey told an industry summit that the network had overlooked some of the true realities of what life is like for everyday Americans in our dramas.

Natalie Portman, who campaigned for Clinton in Pennsylvania, told the Guardian that her liberal bubble had blinkered her to Trumps rise. Thats maybe part of the problem. We dont interact enough with people from different political persuasions.

Another problem is Hollywoods gender imbalance. Bashing Trump for sexism, on or off screen, is awkward given an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigation into Hollywood pay discrimination.

Somewhat remarkably given … the abundant attention the diversity issue has received over the last couple of years the percentages of women working in important behind-the-scenes roles actually declined last year, said Martha Lauzen, author of annual Celluloid Ceiling reports.

The most recent study, out this week, found that women comprised just 7% of directors on the top 250 films, down from previous years. Either by accident, design or training, behind-the-scenes individuals tend to create characters reflecting their own sex, Lauzen said.

Some critics dismiss the culture war idea as absurd given that Trump, a Manhattan tycoon-turned reality TV star, is a product of Hollywood.

Not only that, but the industry paved his political insurrection with films such as Jimmy Stewarts crusading outsider in Mr Smith Goes to Washington and Sidney Lumets Network, which encouraged everyone to open their windows and scream, Im mad as hell and Im not going to take it any more, argued LA Times film critic Kenneth Turan. The movies were key in creating the cultural forces that made voting for Donald Trump seem like a fine idea.

If Streeps broadside at the Golden Globes was any guide, the Oscars will crackle with more denunciations, which will in turn provoke reactions from the new president and his supporters. A collision of art, celebrity and politics that, however heartfelt, will entertain, and ultimately perhaps add up to just that entertainment.

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