#which you can argue how serious fandom should be to begin with but making fun of someones creation is such a big no for me

[sodaneko]

heartbreaking! one of your favorite artists makes fun of y/n fics!

[sketching-shark]

LMK fandom: Oh, what do we do about this guy who has nothing but hurt Xiaotian, tried to replace Sun Wukong and his crew, hurt Tripitaka and ordered servants to cannibalize a monkey? Oh I know! We’ll turn him into our little meow meow~ he’s so innocent and Sun Wukong is obviously the villain!

What doesn’t help is this idea is perpetuated by multiple fan fic writers and artists for some reason. Especially some aus they make that turn SWK into a bastard for the sake of the story rather than considering cultural context and thinking they should be respectful.

And almost everyone lets them get away with it just because the art or fanfic is good and they get so popular that no one can point what is actually wrong without feeling like they’re going to get attacked.

I'm starting to feel like my blog is the one anons go to specifically to vent their frustrations about the Six Eared Macaque in his lego monkey show form & the associated fandom lmao. But I guess this makes sense, as I’ve had fun quasi-dragging him before & will in fact use this anon submission as an opportunity to have my own, to put it academically, bitch fest about not just this fandom's favorite protagonist-traumatizing meow meow, but about the way villains are often treated in not just fanon, but increasingly in canon works as well. But same policy as with the last anon; I'll post my opinions below the cut, and as fandoms love to say, don’t like don't read if you don't want to see me dunking on the six eared simian & common fandom tendencies towards villains.

Oh man I would say where would you even begin with this but anon you’ve pretty much started yourself with my main gripe with a lot of ways that the Six-Eared Macaque is portrayed in fandom; there seems to be this unspoken agreement that his acts of violence towards Sun Wukong, Qi Xioatian, and Qi Xioatian’s loved ones are either to be framed as somewhat or totally justified, to be immediately forgiven/excused, or to simply & completely be ignored. Like friends maybe this is just me not seeing the proper posts but while the fandom is inundated with art and fanfics of Macaque as a generally decent individual & a true member of team good guy, I have yet to see one person address the fact that this monkey literally kidnapped & mind-controlled Xiaotian’s best friend and father figures & forced them to brutalize Xiaotian while ol’ Six Ear looked on and laughed (X_X). Like this kind of fandom villain treatment is definitely not something that’s solely at work for Monkie Kid, but it is kind of nutty how fandoms will swing between yelling that people should be allowed to like villains without even mild critique, and then will just flat-out not address the villainous behavior, and will even bend over backwards to frame even characters who committed genocide as just poor innocent widdle victims who need a hug. At its worst, I’ve even seen tons of people in a fandom get really angry at other people who don’t like a villain, and will even start accusing those people of hating real-life mentally disabled or abused individuals all because they don’t like the fandom’s favorite literal war criminal. The Monkie Kid fandom is FAR more chill & better than a lot of other fandoms I’ve come across in that regard, but that is an exceedingly low bar, & the tendency to woobify certain kinds of villains-- as with Macaque and the extreme emphasis on his bad boy/sad boy thing--is very much at work.  

 I’ve also talked before about a kind of monoculturalization of certain character interpretations and story beats in fandoms, and one of the more popular ones that seems to be applied to Macaque a lot is the “hero actually bad, villain actually good” cliche, as observable from the general fandom assumption that Mr. Six-Ears he wasn’t even slightly lying or remembering things through a rose-tinted or skewed lens when he gave his version of his and Sun Wukong’s past. Like at this point it seems the possibility that people WILL NOT even consider is that Sun Wukong never did & still doesn't care that much about the Six Eared Macaque (in JTTW they weren’t sworn brothers & in Monkie Kid the only thing the monkey king really said to Macaque before attacking him was a pretty contemptuous "Aren't you ever going to get sick of living under my shadow?," & responds to his "beloved friend" getting blown up with "You did good, bud" to Qi Xiaotian, who did the exploding), or that their original fight may in fact have mostly been instigated by Macaque. After all, to repeat what this anon summarized & what I've said before about their original JTTW context (& in an example of the things that do feel like it's often lost in translation) is that the Six Ear Macaque was a villain not just because he beat up the Tang Monk, but because he wanted to take over Sun Wukong's entire life and identity so he could have all that glory, prestige, and power for himself. To quote the macaque himself from the Anthony C. Yu translation, "I struck the T'ang monk and I took the luggage...precisely because I want to go to the West all by myself to ask Buddha for the scriptures. When I deliver them to the Land of the East, it will be my success and no one else's. Those people of the South Jambudvipa Continent will honor me then as their patriarch and my fame will last for all posterity." And in order to do this, the Six Eared Macaque had apparently made Sun Wukong's "little ones," his monkey family, his captives through either trickery or force, and gotten a number of them to take on the appearance of Tang Sanzang and the other pilgrims. It's also made clear that in very direct contrast to Sun Wukong, he doesn't care about these monkeys beyond how they might serve him. In fact, after Sha Wujing kills the monkey posing as him the Six Eared Macaque not only all but immediately replaces him with another, but also "told his little ones to have the dead monkey skinned. Then his meat was taken to be fried and served as food along with coconut and grape wines." So this monkey is not only willing to risk the lives of a lot of other monkeys for his own personal benefit, but is also a literal cannibal. And yes yes, I know a lot of people have argued that Monkie Kid shouldn't be considered a direct sequel to JTTW & that's fair enough (for example, Sun Wukong probably shouldn't be smashing anyone into a meat patty in a children's cartoon lol). And of course, it needs to be noted that there are a buttload of really out there & really cursed pieces of media based on JTTW & that were created in China. Yet the above description is the oft-ignored in the west original facet of the Six Eared Macaque's character. And it is this selfishness, entitlement, and treatment of other individuals as tools for his own self-serving ends  that is, from where I’m standing, still very much present in Monkie Kid. Like besides repeatedly going out of his way to physically and psychologically traumatize Xioatian, with the last episode Macaque seemed to be going right back to his manipulative ways. I’ve seen people frame their last conversation as Macaque softening to Xioatian a little bit, but personally that read a lot more like that common tactic among abusers where even after they’ve hurt you they’ll dangle something you want or need over your head (in Macaque’s case, the promise of desperately needed training and information about a serious looming threat), with the implication that you’ll only get it if you do what they want you to, such as, in this case, Xioatian going back to Macaque as his student even after having been so terribly hurt by this monkey, which would give Macaque power over Xiaotian and probably Sun Wukong as a result. And it is this violence and manipulation that it seems the fandom at large has tacitly decided shouldn’t even be addressed, instead leaning more towards a (and this is an exaggeration) “Six-Eared Macaque my poor meow meow Sun Wukong has always been bad & has always been wrong about literally everything” reading. 

And while it is the case that I am not Chinese and feel that as such it would be best left to someone who actually comes from that background to provide more context into how common interpretations of the Six Eared Macaque from China may clash really badly with the stuff the western fandom creates, it also must be noted that, as much as we all want to have fun in fandom & in spite of all the out-there versions of JTTW from China, we westerners should recognize that there is a very long and very ugly history of western countries stripping other cultures’ important religious and literary works for parts & mashing them into their own thing while implying or even insisting that what they present provides a true understanding of the original piece. And while I trust most individuals in regards to Monkie Kid are able to step back and think “this is a lego cartoon and not a set guide for how I should understand JTTW” (especially given the insistence that JTTW and Monkie Kid should be considered there own separate works) there does nevertheless seem to be something of a tendency to take the conclusions people come to, for example, about Sun Wukong’s characteristic in his lego form & then assume that’s just reflective to Sun Wukong as a totality. I imagine a good portion of this is due to people not reading JTTW & especially to not having easy access to solid information or answers about JTTW’s many different facets (like geez awhile ago I was trying to get a clear answer on what is considered the most accurate translation of the names of Sun Wukong’s six sworn brothers & got like 5 different responses lmao), but that tendency to take a western fandom interpretation & run with it instead of doing any background research or questioning said interpretation is still very much at play. As such, & as made prominent in the way people have been interpreting the dynamic between Sun Wukong and the Six Eared Macaque in the lego monkey show, tbh it does seem kind of shitty for western creators & audience to sometimes go really out of their way to ignore all of this original cultural & narrative context for the sake of Angst (TM) in Macaque's favor, demonizing Sun Wukong, and shipping the monkey king with his evil twin (X_X).

And speaking of which, even beyond the potential inherent creepiness & revulsion that can be inspired by this specific ship given common interpretations of the og classic's original meaning (again, it's my understanding, given both summaries of translated Chinese academic texts I've been kindly provided with, my own reading of the Anthony C. Yu translation of JTTW, & vents from a number of Chinese people I've seen on this site, that the Six-Eared Macaque is commonly interpreted in China as having originated from Sun Wukong himself as a living embodiment of his worst traits, hence why only Buddha can tell the difference between them & why the monkey king is much more slow to violence after he kills the macaque), I'd argue that in the face of all the uwu poor widdle meow meow portrayals lego show Macaque is, especially if you include JTTW's events, still in the role of “Sun Wukong but worse” as he is very much a violent & selfish creep. Like he was basically running around in JTTW wearing a Sun Wukong fursuit, but there he had the sole reason of wanting to replace Sun Wukong wholesale so he could have all the good things in the monkey king's life without actually having to work as hard for them. But if you combine that with Macaque now claiming that he used to be best friend with Sun Wukong in his pre-journey days (something that's made funny from a JTTW context given that that status actually belongs to the Demon Bull King lol), his original violence has now blown into this centuries long and really unhealthy obsession with the monkey king. Like he's apparently gone from wanting to literally be Sun Wukong to being so obsessed with getting revenge on Sun Wukong that he's got basically nothing else going on in his life. Like he's only appeared in two episodes but...does he have any friends? Any family? A career or even a hobby that DOESN'T center the monkey king? Anything at all outside of his "get revenge on and/or kill Sun Wukong/use his successor as my personal punching bag” thing? Like dude! That is extremely creepy and extremely bad for everyone all around! As I’ve said before, this seeming refusal to see beyond the past or to do something that doesn’t involve Sun Wukong in some capacity is a trait that makes Macaque an interesting and somewhat tragic villain--he even seems to be working as Sun Wukong’s reflection in a mirror darkly, with lego show Sun Wukong pretty clearly not being able to heal from his own past which is hinted to be defined by one loss after another, and with Monkie Kid even kind of having these two characters somewhat follow their JTTW characterizations in that in the latter half of the journey Sun Wukong often gets sad & starts crying in the face of what seems insurmountable odds (& Monkie Kid Sun Wukong does seem to be hiding some serious depression behind a cheerful facade), whereas the Six-Eared Macaque retains a worse version of Sun Wukong’s pre-journey characteristic of getting pissed and lashing out if things don’t go his way--but it’s also what would make any current friendship or romantic relationship between these monkeys horrific. Although to be fair even the fandom seems to recognize this in an unconscious way, in that a lot of the art & fanfic seems to swing erratically between them kissing & screaming at each other in yet another example of bog-standard fandom adulation of romanticized toxic relationships lol.  

At the end of the day, of course, this is nothing new. You'll find versions of this dynamic across a ton of fandoms and now even canonical work. And as such, I can only look at this kind of popularized relationship dynamic with a kind of resigned weariness whenever it pops up, & my frustrated question with the popularity of this kind of pairing is the exact same one that I have for a multitude of blatantly toxic villain/hero ships, given common fandom discourse & the tendency to either ignore or justify the villain's actions & demonize the hero: if you're THAT convinced that everything is the hero's fault, if you believe THAT much that the hero is the one in the wrong for the villain's pain and their subsequent actions, then why are you so set on them not only becoming a romantic pair, but framing this get-together as a good thing? Like I know we contain multitudes but that's waaay too many contradictions for me to wrap my head around. And it definitely doesn’t help that one branch of underlying reasoning behind this kind of pairing seems to be the ever-present “you break it, you fix it” mentality, where the assumption is that if you’re in a failing, abusive, and/or generally toxic relationship (platonically or romantically), if you put in enough time and effort & attempts to compromise, you’ll be able to restore/have the relationship you dreamed of, even with someone who hurt you really badly. And this assumption isn’t limited to fandom: I’d even argue that it’s everywhere in the culture, hence why a lot of people feel like they “failed” if they have to get a divorce or make the choice to leave an unhealthy friendship. Personally, I feel like people could really benefit from more stories about how it is not only the case that the people you hurt don’t owe you their forgiveness & you can still become a better and happier person without the one you hurt in your life, & that while it can be really hard it can also be a good thing to leave a relationship, even if it’s one that once meant a lot to you. 

  But in all honestly, from my own perspective this kind of pairing is starting to read far less like enemies to lovers and far more like a horrible fantasy where you can pull whatever shit you want, even on the people you "love," & never be held accountable for your terrible behavior or even have to consider that maybe you were in the wrong. It's another facet that makes me larf every time I see people insist that fandom is an inherently "transformative" or "progressive" form of storytelling like friends you are literally just taking status quo toxic monogamy & rebranding it as somehow beneficial & romantic (X_X).

But as to anon’s last frustration, it is hard to know what is the appropriate response with this kind of thing...like for my own part I’m keeping my frustrations to my blog & now increasingly to posts that you would have to click on the “read more” button to see what I have to say, but I totally get the hesitation to give even a mild critique to big names in a fandom. Like I've now seen it happen repeatedly where someone who has a big name in a fandom will make something that's kind of shitty for one reason or another, someone will message them with some version of "hey, that's kind of shitty, you shouldn't do that," and the typical response is either to blatantly ignore the issue completely, or more popularly to make a giant crying circus that seems deliberately geared towards stoking emotions on both sides of the, for example, fiction does/doesn't affect reality issue so that something that didn't even have to be that big a deal gets blown out of all proportion, with the big name often framing what often started out as a very mild critique into a long crying jag about how the initial response to their kind of shitty thing was so mean/cruel and they're just a poor innocent & that YOU'RE the true racist/sexist/bigot etc. if you don't agree with their opinion. It must of course be noted that there have also been numerous instances of people taking it too far the other way & sending not just big names but smaller creators literal deaths threats over stuff like innocuous ships which like holy hell bells people that’s a horrible thing to do. But for the big names at least, the end result of all this fighting is usually that once the dust has settled they have more attention/fame/money/power in the fandom than before, and with anyone who might have a problem with their stuff feeling afraid to voice their opinion lest they be swarmed by that person's fans. In that way fandom does often seem to increasingly be geared towards presenting an “official” fandom perspective about various facets of a piece of media instead of allowing for a multitude of interpretations, and with criticism, no matter its shape or form or how genuinely warranted it may be, being hounded out of existence. I feel like a lot of this could be made less bad if there wasn’t this constant assumption & even drive to think that a different interpretation of or criticism of your favorite work of fiction or your fanwork isn’t a direct claim that you are a thoroughly loathsome individual (& maybe also if people cultivated an enjoyment of learning things about important works from a culture outside their own, even if what you learn clashes with your own initial understandings), but I guess we’ll see if that ever happens. 

So these are my general thinks about the Six Eared Macaque’s current fandom meow meow status & some of my bigger gripes with fandom tendencies as a whole. I stand by my idea that the most interesting & beneficial route for Macaque moving forward would be a kind of “redemption without forgiveness from the ones you hurt” arc--as I think was done pretty excellently with the character Grace in Infinity Train--and if for no other reason than gosh dern this monkey really needs to cultivate some sort of identity beyond his “Sun Wukong but worse” persona. 

[lovee-infected]

hi! could i see your insights about ace? i saw a anon say from another blog that kinda has unrealistic expectations in a relationship and it kinda stuck with me. i mean in his ghost marriage he already knows the things he wants in a partner but he didn't show guilt about dumping his girlfriend, even. i think if you date him because he sees these quality in you and as the relationship last, he'll dump you if you get boring to him lol

I never thought that I'd say this but, wow, I'm impressed. I've been really curious about Ace since I get to see a variety of different content with different representations of his personality, so I decided to stick with his canon stories and lines. This analysis was so much fun to write and I'd assure you all that not only Ace but rather all of the first year characters are WAY more than they seem to be! Many just decide to ignore them and pass away, calling them good boys or precious stupid beanies at first.

Speaking of Ace, we've all seen how trending he's been recently. Many theories, thoughts and new arguments exist through the fandom as many want to get to know this boy better.

Theories like "Ace's betrayal theory" as well have been mentioned a lot lately, some agree and some disagree. While we aren't going to talk about that theory or any other theories in this analysis, I'd like to take time to talk about the reasons why those theories might seem appealing and accurate. In other words, we're going to talk about where they are coming from!

1) Ace is incredibly smart and brave

It's true that characters like Jade or Azul's remarkable genius often stands out as it's clearly visible through their presence in the game, from iconic decisions to stunning strategies. But what we need to realize is how characters like Ace can be just as inspiring while their true intelligence is often shallowed by extras and giving them much of a dumb picture in the game.

To begin with, let us note that Ace's brother himself was one of the considerably strong magicians in Heartslabyul's history and even his presence through the magicshift is still remarkable even though years has passed. As the second child of the family, Ace's change to achieve success is even higher than his brother's as he already has a role model he really looks up to, so in that point Ace isn't one to underestimate. But, let me point that his relationship with his brother also contains lots of jealousy and sometimes negativity. His brother was one to always trick Ace and he continues to do so even nowadays! Ace on the other hand doesn't enjoy being pissed off over and over even as he's used to it. Well, we can say that it's another reason for him to train his hardest and become a greater magician than his brother therefore he won't be the bully material of the Trappola household anymore.

Regardless of how effective his brother might've been on him, Ace himself has shown plenty of strong hints that reveal not only his high IQ but also EQ:

He can solve math problems in second, which is a rather important feature to note because the way you deal with math can directly effect the way you deal with life. Not saying that one has to be great at math to be great at something else but it's rather about the perspective and ability of logical thinking that it gives to one. I'd say that this effect is quite visible if you take a look at the way he speaks in serious situations; he's got much of an analytical brain. Let's not forget that Cater as well confirmed that he's much of a skill stealer, is pretty good at remembering things and is a quick thinker! These are go on to show how much of an underestimated genius he is.

Whenever something goes wrong, Ace would be the first one to notice it even if it's a silly matter. And it always begins with a seemingly childish argument, but ends incrucial matters that not a single soul had noticed before! Just take a look at chapter one, what would've happened if Ace hadn't spoken up? He was just one of the hundreds of students having to be severely punished under Riddle's strict rules and he surely wasn't the first one to go through this. Him taking the urge to fight Riddle sounded stupid and naïve at first, many even told him off because he was just acting like a pissed off child. But as he continued to argue and oppose toward Riddle's way as a leader, even Trey realized how he's been keeping his eye shut on all this problems for so long. The way Ace stood against Trey was iconic, he confidently defended his point not by his personal demands and feelings but with facts and logical comments on why Trey's way of threatening Riddle is wrong. He did the same thing again at he ghost marriage, just think of it! Not a single soul ever cared to tell the bride about true love but Ace was there, and he was the one and only to do this after more than 500 years of the bride's existence! This Ace, this serious and mature face of Ace is something that can surely fascinate anyone. His bravery, the way he puts all that strength through words, hisextremely logical point of view and his enthusiasm to solve the problems no matter how unimportant they seem to be is indeed appreciatble. Seriously though, what would've happened to Riddle is Ace wasn't there? When Ace firstly begun to oppose to him, everyone thought that is was just a childish argument. They had no idea how severe and destructive Riddle's temper issues were and how harmful they were down inside.

2) He's one of the dumbest characters in the whole game

You know what? He is dumb. Yes he's incredibly smart but this isn't going to change the fact that he is dumb as hell, so I'm never going to argue when someone's nagging on how much of an idiot he is. But most importantly, we need to know what's making him so dumb:

His presence through the stories has proved that Ace is eventually pretty good at detecting the main source of problems both on the mental and physical side. He was the first to realize Riddle's issues, Trey's huge mistake with Riddle, Ghost bride's unawareness and Epel's gloomy and sad aura in chapter 4. Ace's also one to easily tell whether what someone is doing is wrong or not, he can see through people and bring their mistakes to their attention. The problem is... he can't be quite the same with himself. That's what makes him awfully dumb.

Back in chapter one, he did have a point about Riddle's way of leadership being so unfair and messed up, but when he decided to challenge Riddle and even take his place as the dorm leader he was a total idiot who didn't how weak and unpractical his own magic was, he was being too dramatic. When he talked about his ex girlfriend, he just talked about how she held him back from doing what he wanted and was too uncool to spend time with, but he didn't mention a single thing about himself doing anything wrong in that relationship. He often fails to realize that he's got his own incompleteness and lacks just like anyone else, or prefers to put an blind eye to them most of the time (not all of the time)

Ace sets the perfect goals, but chooses the wrong path to achieve them. He needs to realize that just like everyone else, he can be sometimes wrong. He should take his time to get to know himself better; his abilities, his attitude, his faults and his mistakes and learn to be more patient and logical in order to achieve his goals. He's still young an inexperienced, by learning to put that brilliance of him into the perfect use he'd be able to become the great magician he wishes to be, and I'd say that in case that he continues to grow stronger and smarter, he'll have a high chance of being hesrtslabyul's next dorm leader!

3) He legit wants to be the "Ace"

This part's more of an attempt to do a name analyis and see how much it's been effective on Ace's personality. It actually makes a lot of snese since the word "Ace" itself has several meanings, and he used these different terms quite a few times in his personal stories. This point would also be explained in part (4) so for now, let's take a look at direct name definitions:

First of, remember what what an Ace is in a card game? "A playing card with a simple spot on it, ranked as the highest card in its suit" This goes on to tell us a lot, it's telling us what an Ace is. A loner yet the most powerful one of its own, just like how Ace wants to be.

Wanting to be an actuall Ace is definitely one of the things that sometimes makes Ace sound so jerky and he's aware of it! If you give it a closer look, you'll see that Ace doesn't really treat his friends like friends, especially with Deuce and Grim. He's often insulting or challenging them, and even during his birthday SSR when MC asked him about what he thinks of each of other first years (Who are basically his closest friends) he mainly criticized them and all, not a single word was said about things he likes about them and he didn't even call any of them his friend!

Well that's much of a jerky attitude to have toward people whom you spend almost all of your time with, especially your best of time.

He to play the role of the bad guy, the type to hang out with everyone without feeling any attached to them as even friends. Seems like our boy is trying to be a loner, a true Ace of cards and hearts. And he doesn't mind his friends calling him a bastard or jerk because of this. It's even confirmed that he's more of the popular guy type therefore he's mainly used to having people around!

On the other hand, he's trying his best to achieve success no matter what the obstacles are. It's true that he often messes up and fails, but we cannot say that he isn't trying. He almost lost his head for real during his SSR story where Riddle's favorite hedgehogs were lost because of Ace's impatience, but at last with the help of monsieur Rook and his own ability to imitate Rook's mole language skills Ace saved his neck one more time, and ended his story with a dramatic "Of course, I always Ace it!"

4) Ace does care, but pretends that he does not

In contrast to the fact that he wants to sound tricky,manipulative and mean, or how he's denying his friends' true worth to him like stated in part (3), Ace is probably one of the most caring and supportive characters in the game. Not saying that he's just as bright as someone like Kalim, but his way of seeing through people and wishing them to be better, wealthier and happier than they already are is surely something. This fact is often ignored because, well...everyone's too busy calling him either dumb or sus/ jk!

Just imagine having a friend or at least, a classmate you know like Ace. How's he supposed to be? He'd realize it when someone's bullying/bothering/ or intentionally harming you, and he isn't going to be silent about it. If you see that you're permanently sad, angry, rude or loud then again he'd speak up, he isn't going to just pull up with anyone's unhealthy habit like nothing's happened. He's got much of a big brain as well so you should expect him to say a bunch of helpful and meaningful stuff when he's using that brain, mainly in serious situations. He may not be a permanently mutual to have around, but when the troubles arrive, know that having Ace around is always an advantage.

To top it off, he's even shown sympathy toward people whom he seemed to like the least at first like Riddle; he wishes Riddle to be happier, to smile more, to be more open about his emotions with other students. At some point he even admits that he looks up to him, he used to overestimate his powers and challenged Riddle, but during the ghost marriage he said that he knows how powerful and strong Riddle is, therefore he should work his hardest to study and train to become strong just like him! He already seems to be more cheerful and bright when MC is talking to him, but when it comes to Grim and Deuce...it gets quite complicated. What we see the most is often Ace insulting them or saying that he's going to kick their asses, but they're also his closest friends all though he refuses to admit to it.

Just wait for Deuce or Grim to get in a serious danger or pain, and see how much of a protective one Ace can be! He isn't going to remain silent when one is in danger, but he's surely going to deny all that effort and affection he gave into action afterwards. When Ace can feel this cautious and understanding toward Riddle, someone who isn't even a friend of his then imagine how supportive and caring he would be toward his close friends like Deuce, MC and Grim!

In his ghost marriage as well, his words and the way he spoke of the meaning of true love left everyone, even Crowley, impressed (Crowley even said that he's fallen in love with this side of Ace's personality), but refused to admit that he was speaking of his true feelings after the ceremony. Someone like Grim is too bold to recognize how much of a different person Ace can be inside, so he claimed that Ace was just rambling nonsense without thinking of what he was saying back then, and Ace agreed with him! This is a continuation to part (3) where we talked about how he wants to be a loner, he doesn't want anyone to see how caring and sometimes, emotional he can be inside! Poor boy is quite shy showing his true feelings we can tell~

5) Ace can be quite tricky and manipulative

This part will also explain some of the main reasons behind famous theories like "Ace's betrayal theory", and I wanted to have a certain part to talk about this point specifically because it's been quite trending through the whole fandom, and many are wondering why theorizers are considering his betrayal a possibility, so here we go!

As said, one of the main factors the makes Ace seem suspicious would be his incredible intelligence. The fact that he can actually be that smart all the time but isn't openly showing his talents and abilities can be quite questionable, more details regarding his intelligence and most likely high IQ and EQ were discussed in part (1)!

Enough with intelligence, let's focus on his personality! This is mainly what this part is talking about, his trickiness. Just like his father and older brother, Ace is pretty good with magic tricks. Small and fun tricks are a convenient yet easy ways to inspire others and Ace doesn't mind showing the crowd what he's got up in sleeve when possible. But the thing is...this isn't just about fancy tricks.

This ability can be expanded into any other field such as mental terms and enable him to indirectly control and play with one's mind. That's more of a possibility though! He hasn't yet shown any signs of being any manipulative but, well, we can't say that it's beyond his abilities. Ace himself can be quite sarcastic and mean at the time, he doesn't seem to mind slightly tricking his friends either. Nothing about him seems to be serious, but the possibilities remain still.

The way he learnt those tricks as well is mentionable; no one ever teached himm any of those tricks, he learnt them through being repeatedly tricked, and learning to copy and redo what he saw. Both Rook and Cater so far have confirmed that Ace's ability to learn so quickly and learn and redo techniques just by watching them is fantastic.

His genius and ability to learn and memorize everything that he needs to learn pretty fast, along side his tricky and sometimes personality can make Ace quite dangerous. If someone like him decides to choose such a remarkable talent for evil purposes, that's surely going to be bad news. That's much and less of what makes Ace's betrayal theory make sense although there're still fans who find it quite questionable. I'm not a supporter of this theory myself as I hadn't seen any signs of Ace having any bad intentions so far, but I do get where the theorizers are coming from and that makes sense. Ace has been trying to put on much of a mean and lowkey evil face on through the story and no one can really say what's exactly going on in that brain. We'll that about this uncertainty in part (7)!

6) His past relationship was...uh

For now, Ace is the only character who is confirmed to have experience in love and relationships, and this was a rather effective factor since many have been talking about Ace's past relationship afterwards. The thing is...Ace did talk about how his girlfriend held him back from having fun and living the life he wanted to live. Well there's actually a lot we should say about this one so I'm not gonna rush to the end, let's think about all of the aspects of this situation logically:

First of, the relationship itself. I'd say that it was a wrong attempt for them to date each other in the first place because obviously, Ace and his girlfriend weren't made for each other. They were total opposites in interests and they couldn't even have fun together. If Ace chose to go on a wild roller coater ride, the girl would've freaked out and when she chose a small, childish ride that she liked Ace instead didn't enjoy it at all. It's surely an issue when you and your partner can't even watch a movie which both of you can enjoy together since their tastes were totally different, just jow was this relationship going to last? Ace wasn't happy, and if he was going to do what made him happy the girl in return would've been sad. They were two different people of two different points, dating at this point was nothing but a mistake.

On the other hand, Ace as well is guilty. First off, she shouldn't have dated the girl in the first place if he was aware of how different her tastes were. Second, from what he said he never showed any signs of dissatisfaction when he had to give up on what he liked to listen to what the girl friend liked. The girl friend obviously told him that she was scared of a horror movie, but Ace just kept his mouth shut and felt awfully annoyed as he watched a romance movie with her while he didn't like it at all. If he'd at least told her girlfriend about this, she wouldn't have felt as injured and cheated when Ace broke up with her. Ace shouldn't have bottled it up, he deserved to enjoy the relationship just as much as the girl did. He shouldn't have expected things to get any better if he wasn't going to solve anything about it in the first place. If he'd talked about his personal desires and favorites as well, and had his uncomfortableness with most of the girl's choices discussed before hand, there could've been a chance of them coming into a conclusion and even not breaking up! The girl could've tried to be braver for him, and Ace could've agreed to be softer because of her. There would've been a HUGE difference if they'd talked about it logically.

Also, keep this in mind that the girl had no idea about Ace's uncomfortableness which was low key naïve of her (It's not cool when you don't even realize that your boyfriend doesn't like something) but this also made him awfully unprepared for a break up! Ace should've st least talked about his feelings and how he was unable to continue that relationship with her instead of just dropping her out of nowhere. That would've also decreased the chance of having to deal with the girl's friends after wards!

Finally, let's say that this relationship was wrong in too many aspects. They weren't each other's type, and we can't really blame Ace for dropping someone whom he couldn't be happy with. The main of being in a relationship is spending time with someone whom you can enjoy your time with. He as well was guilty because he can't just drop the girl like he just didn't care and had gotten tired of her while he had his own reasons for dropping her, he should've let the girl know that it wasn't necessarily her fault, it was about Ace not being able to relate to her tastes and habits.

Also, let's be honest. Not much is expected when a 15 year old is dating. Being in a relationship is an awfully sensitive and important choice and someone like Ace hasn't reached that level of maturity to be ready to date someone, let alone doing it at his 15s! Honestly... they should've learnt a lot before dating each other because it isn't a silly thing. Dating like this is nothing but playing around for a while for fun, it's a childish game of spending some time together until they break up.

For now, Ace is finds love quite silly and meaningless so we can clearly see that his past relationship has pissed him off. Well Ace needs to realize that his relationship with his ex wasn't a serious one, so it's normal for it to seem unimportant and silly. He needs to learn a lot without dating someone again, such as knowing how crucial it is to make sure that his hobbies would match his partners, to make sure tjat they get along, and simply, he needs to find his own type! Not all people are made for each other, and he isn't supposed to fall for anyone with any possible personality that pops up on his way.

Also, I'd say that he still needs to focus on studying instead of dating. He needs to reach the required level of maturity to be ready to start a healthy and successful relationship again. Also, he might end up being totally different from what we've seen about him being in a relationship do far when he grows up! Idealistics do change a lot olin teenagehood.

7) We need to talk about our first years a lot more!!!

This point isn't just about him, but rather all of the first years! If I were to rate the most ignored and shallowed personalities of twst, the first years should've gone on the top of this list. Even when we're speaking of the mischaracterized characters of the game, many consider Ace and Deuce to be the least mischaracterized while they happen to be the most mischaracterized as no one evencares to see through them and feel like we aren't mischaracterizing them just because we're ignoring them! Come on guys, Ace's design and personality is a lot more complicated and harder to read than characters like Vil and even Leona!

Out of all first years Sebek was the only one to get some proper shout outs so far but why isn't anyone talking about Ace and Deuce the way they deserve to be talked about? Their presence through the game is even more important than the dorm leaders as they are the closest characters to MC, and their personality design is just incredible, no just because of how perfectly detailed it is, but also because of giving them this unpredictability and incompleteness which totally matches their age!

Studies have shown that judging one's personality based on how they're doing at the age of 16 or younger is prettyhard and impossible, and it's a totally serious fact. At the age of 16, human's personality is under severe effects and changes until reaching it's final-developed shape. That's accurate toward almost all of the first years except Jack since he seems to have more of a mature personality.

NRC's first years are really complicated, especially a character like Ace. That why I said that we can't yet tell if he's a good guy or not, because at this level of life he can choose to be anything. He can be good, he can be bad, he can be neutral. That's why he's showing too much of opposite actions at the moment. One second he's being the biggest idiot in the whole world, the other second he's planning like a 50 year old genius. One second he's being protective over his friends, the other second he sighs and tells MC how annoying they are.

That's why Ace is hard to read, we can't tell what his true feelings are until he reaches the required mental stability to be judged as a mature and complete personality. 18 year olds like Vil have already reached that level of maturity and completeness, finding their unique magics as well is another sign of it. But our first years still need to learn and experience until they find their real selves, to see who they are.

This is one of the most adorable facts about their design because they really gave him this young and wild and incomplete nature to show that they're still young! This is quite incredible how careful Yana was to remember that they all needed some this childishness in their design, their designs are just as accurate and realistic as a real 16 year old's! They still need to learn, and that's why they're the closest ones to MC.

MC needs to learn and get to see more and more of this world, and so do the first years! They're just as unexperienced and new to this world, and they can relate to MC better than anyone else can!

So please, from now on, let's remember to talk about not only Ace, but also all of the first years more often. Ace and Deuce's designs especially are the most detailed and beautiful ones if you take time to know them better. Remember that after the 7 dorm leaders, Ace and Deuce's roles as the protagonist's closest allies are the most crucial in the game, so let's not just decide to ignore all these creative features and pass by them without thinking how much they can mean.

Woah, this one was quite harder to write than I'd expected! There are way too many things to say about him which made me have to summarize this into just this 7 parts for now. Ace is surely and odd yet interesting one to study, even more interesting than usually famous characters like Leona and Azul, which is partly because of how unpredictable he is!

[xaibaugrove]

Everyone in the Krew is Problematic

I was inspired to go on this rant by someone who recently brought up a question in a server I’m in, asking why so many people in the fandom seem to hate Mako and Makorra and why. This wouldn’t be the first time I defend Mako and it most likely won’t be the last, but it might be the first time I tear him and everyone else in the Krew down in the process, only to bring them back up. Hear me out though.

I think I’ve totally accepted that a lot of people in this fandom will always hate Mako and that I will have to perpetually defend him, I understand that this is the relationship I’ve chosen with this world. But what I still will never understand are the reasons why people hate/dislike him because compared to how much they love other characters in the Krew who honestly aren’t that much better than him (in some cases, even worse!), it doesn’t make any sense.

Let me also preface this by saying, I love these characters with all my heart and soul, probably more than I should love fictional characters, but this is the life I live and with that being said, I am going to tear them apart just to prove a point. Okay, here we go.

MAKO

Most of his detractors list the usual criticisms, which are valid when isolated. He cheated on Asami, he lied to Korra, he was a terrible boyfriend and essentially he treated the women he claimed to love or care about horribly. Gee, it’s almost like the man was a teenager with no experience in having long-lasting, healthy relationships and was raised in the streets by gangmembers while doing anything to survive and provide for his younger sibling after seeing his parents killed right in front of him and suddenly being orphaned…

I think Mako has been torn down enough, so I won’t get too deep into the tearing down part for him. It really does baffle me how someone can claim to be woke and not comprehend how someone coming from poverty could possibly be a product of their environment. Like, does everyone think that poor people automatically have hearts of gold and turn out like Little Orphan Annie? Why are people surprised that when someone has a shitty life, they might do shitty things?

Also, sooo many people love Zuko, who actively tried to cause harm to Aang, Katara and Sokka numerous times, and sympathize with his troubled past. But like, sure Zuko had an abusive father and his mother peaced out of his life for whatever reasons but at least he had his uncle. Mako had his parents for maybe 8 years before they were murdered in front of him and then had...no one for the next 10 years? Except for Bolin, sure, but no other parental figure in his life. Dude literally had to become him and his brother’s own parent and joined a gang to survive, and after all that, the worst he does is acts as a bad boyfriend toward Korra and Asami and he is instantly thrown to the wolves. Something doesn’t add up. It’s just...I don’t get it.

Yes, the way he treated people was bad, but people can grow? That’s a thing humans can do. And he was a teenager, my god. No, we cannot allow our past to be an excuse for how we treat others, but we have to be aware that there is a growth process to being human. And being human in and of itself, isn’t pretty. You think Mako is problematic? Don’t get me started on your fave.

KORRA

Ok, I love this woman to death but she is ridiculously problematic. She pursued someone in a relationship and essentially forced Mako to cheat on Asami by kissing him against his will, that’s already pretty awful and shows a lack of empathy on her part, also kissing people without their consent is no bueno. But also I just have to say it for the people who might not know this. One of the fundamental reasons why Makorra didn’t work was because KORRA WAS ABUSIVE. Okay? It wasn’t just that Mako was inadequate at relationships and didn’t know how to people, it wasn’t that she was secretly confused and wanting Asami the entire time (biphobia at it’s best) one of the main problems in the pairing was that Korra was crazy abusive towards Mako. Seriously, why don’t I see this more often in those discussions??

If we need examples, I have dozens. Honestly, it’s really easy to see how terrible Korra was to Mako, I’d actually argue that she treated him worse than he treated her. I mean, they were both terrible to one another, but in Korra’s case she went through the motions of being completely infatuated with your first teenage crush, getting with said crush, then crashing and burning once you realize that you have no idea how to treat a romantic partner so after the butterflies wear off you subject them to all the wonderful aspects of your anger issues. Not only did she scream at Mako during every argument they had, she also threatened him with bodily harm if she got really angry. Remember how their relationship crashed and burned in Book 2? Here are the things that Korra did during that time. Let me reiterate, this was not okay.

Mako is visibly shaken by this!

This woman burst into her boyfriend’s place of work and violently kicked his desk out from in front of him with all his coworkers present. That is not normal behavior. That is a red flag. And after she came back, had amnesia or whatever and forgot they broke up after that scene, let’s not forget that Mako was legitimately Afraid to break up with her again. Korra made her partner frightened that they might suffer bodily harm if they upset her. Again, and I can’t stress this enough, this is not okay!

The little scene in Book 3 when Korra is lifting Mako like 100 feet off the ground with airbending while he’s screaming in fear just to make Asami laugh is cute, right? I’ll admit, I loved that little moment too, it’s one of the only instances of Korrasami development that we got, but also, there were sooo many things wrong with that scene lol. Not only does Korra terrify Mako for literally no reason, it’s also sort of just her continuing to exercise some degree of power over him for her own amusement. Almost like a subtle reminder to him saying, “I am stronger than you in every way and I can break your femur like a twig if I wanted to… but I won’t, so look how much fun we’re having!”

Now of course, there are reasons why Korra acts like this. She was isolated for almost her entire life and never learned how to treat people and be around people. The Avatar is human because they must live amongst the people they protect and that helps them develop empathy and cherish life. The White Lotus deprived her of that fundamental aspect of her duty as the Avatar and it showed throughout the beginning of the series. Clearly, she was young, didn’t see how her actions could negatively affect others and hurt the feelings of not just her partner but also friends and family (she was really awful towards a lot of people in her life!). But as the series went on, we see her having less outbursts and learning to control her temper more.

One can only assume that she does not have the same behavior with Asami because for one, I don’t think Asami would play that shit, she seems like she would electrocute a bitch in a heartbeat and not hesitate if needed, but also Korra is not the same shitty partner she used to be as a teenager. Again, kids do stupid things. Adults do stupid things. And we learn and we grow. Korra will probably make some more mistakes in her relationship with Asami. I don't think anyone can have one bad relationship and suddenly learn all the lessons they can from it and have a perfect one the next go around. I can totally picture Korra losing her temper and raising her voice at Asami if she gets frustrated and forgets who she’s dealing with. Managing anger issues is hard, I know this from experience, and it doesn’t magically get easier. Of course, if Korra does pop off, Asami would definitely put her in her place because she’s a bad bitch who doesn’t take anyone’s shit, next character.

ASAMI

You know her, you love her, you fantasize about her and you probably have her on your list of fictional characters you would totally bang if you had the chance (I know I do), yes, even your best girl is problematic. It’s interesting to me that a lot of people sympathize with Asami and very few openly criticize her (so few that I’ve never seen anyone say a bad thing about her). What’s there to criticize though? The poor girl was cheated on by Mako, had her feelings disregarded by Korra, who claimed to be her friend but pursued her then-boyfriend behind her back and then made up for it by simping for her for the rest of her life? Also her mom was murdered when she was just 6 years old, her father threatened to kill her once and physically abused her, then died right after they started repairing their relationship, essentially making her an orphan at the ripe age of 22. Suffice it to say, Asami has been through it.

So, how could she be problematic, you ask? Why, of course, through the classic Bryke technique of romance progression in storylines called Kissing People Without Their Consent

To be honest, I did gloss over this with Korra, simply because there were sooo many other issues with that woman and I just couldn’t go through every single one in as much detail but that doesn’t negate how serious this whole sneak attack kissing thing is. Sure, Asami is very emotional and lonely and sort of desperate too, (it's a little sad, really) but Mako is clearly uncomfortable and completely caught off guard by the kiss. This is also the second time this happens to him in the series! There are a couple factors that might contribute to why Asami does this and acts this way, maybe Korra’s general awfulness rubbed off on her (don’t make a dirty joke) but this is still wrong.

AND that’s...pretty much it. Kissing people without their permission is a big no no, though. Not wanting to gloss over that, but Asami really is a good person who just did a not-so-great thing. Getting burned by Mako twice probably made her a little less inclined to be as forward with anyone though, and it looks like she now takes her time and is patient in her relationship with Korra. It even seems like Asami is the only person Korra is afraid to upset, as Korra does seem more gentle and calm when around her. And who knows? Maybe Asami living a life where a majority of the time she got whatever she wanted when she wanted it might have also influenced her to be more assertive or even imposing within her relationships.

If anything, those three fools getting into relationships with each other just showed how not ready they were to be in relationships in the first place and also how not okay they were.

BOLIN

Originally I titled this as “Everyone in the Krew is problematic (except Bolin)” but then I remembered that Bolin totally kissed a woman without her consent so I deleted the shit out of that!

This asshole looks genuinely pleased with himself after essentially assaulting Ginger. Not a good look.

Sure, Bolin is baby. He will always be baby to me. But that does not erase the fact that he also actively supported a fascist dictator. Not only was the kissing without consent thing bad, but there’s also that. No matter how many times people around him warned him about the fact that he was on the wrong side of things, that he was helping someone who was putting people into concentration camps...Bolin wanted to believe the best of Kuvira. He ignored obvious signs that the woman was a dictator committing human rights violations like crazy and you know, there’s gotta be a reason for that too.

Maybe Bolin wanted to feel like he was doing something good for once. When you think about it, with his role as the comic relief in the Krew, and sort of constantly being infantilized by his older brother, I wouldn’t be surprised if the man developed some insecurity in his ability to do anything good or useful for anyone without screwing it up in some way. In Kuvira’s army, it seemed like he was actually taken seriously, he felt like he was doing something that mattered. Korra had being the Avatar, Asami had her business and mindblowing philanthropy (honestly, her ability to be as charitable as she is profitable is insane) and Mako had his police work (ACAB, tho). Bolin had...the role of being a joke. A superficial actor. A former pro-bending meathead.

Bolin lived his entire life following after his brother that once they were adults and Mako finally decided to live his own life for once, it left Bolin completely lost. And lost young men are perfect recruits for fascists.

So, in conclusion, my whole reasoning behind destroying the integrity of my favorite characters is to prove a huge point. All of these characters are problematic. They have flaws, some bigger than others (looking at you, Korra. Just...wow), but ultimately, even if your fave is problematic... that’s okay. A lot of people, mostly younger people it seems, are really obsessed with being right about everything that they do and stan. And that’s a wonderful thing, so much change has come about by the younger generations calling out people who do fucked up shit, don’t want or try to improve, and get away with it. But it’s also caused a lot of people to be unforgiving and completely unwilling to acknowledge when people do improve and try to be better.

Personally, I love my problematic Krew because having issues that you’re constantly working on internally is human. It’s human to make mistakes, it’s human to grow from those mistakes. And it’s inspiring to me, who is wholly imperfect, to see myself reflected in fictional characters who aren’t perpetuating unrealistic ideals of human nature, characters who are messy, crazy and ultimately human.

As one of my favorite manga artists and queen of impeccable character creation Rumiko Takahashi once said:

“I think that perfect people are not very interesting.”

And I will always wholeheartedly agree.

[misterewrites]

Mystery at the Salt-Irons

Hey everyone! E here with a new chapter! kept you waiting huh? Haha sorry it's been a busy few weeks. Nothing serious but I had to keep starting and stopping this chapter so it threw me off but it's here, it's ready and I hope you enjoy it!

I have some special guests in this story, some ocs made by my friends because you know what I can so I will and honestly, they were really great oc ideas guys. so keep an eye out for @hains-mae and Biz_fantasist  OC(I don’t know if she has a tumblr but it’s late so I’ll edit it later) 

That's it for me! I hope you are all stay safe, keep your loved ones safe, wash your hands, wear your masks, push to give everyone the vaccine cuz this is getting ridiculous. I hope you have a great week, thank you for reading. I deeply appreciate and feel free to share it with your friends, give me feedback. Reblog and comments all that fun stuff! Thanks and I'll see you soon!

Here’s the chapter over at Ao3

https://archiveofourown.org/works/30599756/chapters/85394095

Here’s the story from the beginning if you’re curious what this is about

https://archiveofourown.org/works/30599756/chapters/75486005

and here’s a list of all my work both original and the various fandoms I write for

https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrE42/works

Summary:  Finnrick is called to solve a mysterious case as per his job as the city's only Private Investigator wizard but as he sinks deeper into the case, the more it seems that something is happening behind the scenes. Of course with an old friend in town and dark magic surrounding the case, Finnrick is as busy as ever. Ain't no rest for the wicked.

-----

The Salt-Iron Flats weren’t anything special on the surface: An unassuming apartment complex on the north side of Newton Haven, the only thing most people remembered about the place was how the price tag hurt their souls.

Of course, unlike the general housing market, the Salt-Irons (affectionately referred to by the locals) actually had a very reasonable reason for fetching such a high rate: The salt and cold iron baked into every single brick that formed the building.

If you weren’t in the magical know, you’d think it utterly insane that you’d be forced to pay such a large amount of cash because some weirdo decided to make a new age artistic statement with bricks. Of course, if you are aware of the greater community at large, you’d knew you were paying the insanely large sum because someone decided to make the Salt-Irons the single most protective location in the city.

Most mortals have forgotten their history, their lore and collective knowledge passed down throughout the generations: Why their ancestors used to place lines of salt in front of the door and windows, why the elders always suggested to the braver, recklessly youthful family members to carry iron whenever they ventured through the wild.

Outer beings were repelled by salt and iron. No one really had an idea why fae, angels and demons weren’t fond of salt or iron and there's been plenty of arguing about the subject but all in all the fact remained they did not do well when faced with either.

That was the main reason Finnrick didn’t find himself in the north side of town often.

Well that and the zealous Gate Keepers. Those guys were freaks but between them and the Salt-Irons being the only supernatural community up here, Finn never got a case from the area.

Until today.

The Salt-Irons were great at protecting you from any outside threats that wished you ill will: It didn’t protect you from anything you decided to bring in with you.

It was five in the morning when Finnrick got the call. The M.R.R.D representative didn’t have much to offer beyond the address and floor but he thanked her all the same.

Finnrick yawned tiredly, stretching the tension out of his neck while he sipped his coffee. He let out a sigh of relief as the sun slowly rose into the sky.

The Salt-Irons was a twelve story tall building painted a ghastly pale green that made Finnrick sick just looking at it.

“People are paying how much to live in that shade? I’d ask for discount if I were them.” Finnrick laughing to himself, making his way into the apartment complex.

Luckily the interior was much nicer than the outside: Everything was well kept and cleaned. Not a single speck of dust in sight and the wooden stairs didn’t creak when Finnrick placed his foot on them.

Which was good given Finnrick needed to go up seven flights of stairs.

Finnrick wheezed a little, wiping the sweat from his brow when he reached the seventh floor. He glanced down the hall one way then the other as he began to search for room 707 which basic deductive reasoning suggested should be around the corner.

Finnrick crushed the empty foam cup and tucked it into his coat pocket as he made his way to 707. It was a simple wooden door and immaculately spotless just like the rest of the place. He rose his hand and gently rapped on the door.

No response.

He frowned, checking if he was still alone in the empty hallway and rose his hand towards the door frame.

His eyes glowed with a blue energy as he whispered softly “Revelis”

The door gleamed with a bluish hue for a moment before fading away without a trace.

No protective spells laced over the frame so the only thing Finn had to worry about now if it was locked.

He tried the knob, unsurprised when it swung open silently.

“It’s not breaking and entering if someone’s expecting you” Finnrick justified to himself as he pushed the door in.

He nearly staggered backwards: The air tasted thick and foul like something had been left rotting inside. His skin prickled with anxiety, a chill running down his spine with each step he took further in.

Finnrick took deep, calming breathes while doing his best to ignore the bitter taste that seem to cling the air within.

He noticed the trail of footsteps, perfectly preserved in what appeared to be black dust leading deeper into the living room.

“Hey da! You here?” Finnrick called out, carefully stepping closer “You and ma still married?”

There was a deep grunt of acknowledgment before a voice responded “Sorry son, we’re divorced now. She got custody of you.”

“Well fuck. I guess I’m going to be eating kale and poorly cooked spinach for the rest of my life.”

Garrus Valka was not in fact Finnrick’s father, adoptive or otherwise. He was actually one of the highest ranked officers of the Magical Rapid Response Department: An elf clocking in at 200 years old with richly tanned skin. His bluish gray hair was slicked back in his preferred style. Garrus’s had his back turned to the detective but Finn knew his sliverish gray eyes were deep in concentration as he took down notes about the surroundings. His beautifully inhuman features were marred with a scar on the right side of his face: burnt skin on his cheek, healed by time and various surgeries. An old war wound though Finn never got the full story.

He was dressed in typical M.R.R.D fashion: Dark blue windbreaker, jeans and a blue shirt with the words “Powered by coffee and spite” splashed across the front. His Winchester rifle was slung across his back, ready for any action that may befall the elf.

“Drift.” Garrus greeted teasingly while offering a hand.

Finnrick gave it a playful shake “Da. So is mom here or she trying to smite pigeons again?”

“THEY TRIED TO STEAL MY HOTDOG!” Garrus’s partner Eden screamed from another room “I SHALL BRING MY GOD’S WRATH UPON THEM!”

“You know when they mean justice.” Finnrick called out “I don’t think they mean against winged rats.”

Eden chuckled darkly “You know not their sins.”

“Okay.” Finnrick nodded despite the fact she couldn’t see him “If you say so. What happened Da? Aside powerful necromancy.”

“Powerful necromancy” Garrus replied cheekily “and missing persons.”

Finnrick rose an eyebrow “Persons? More than one?”

“Two: A father and son. Richard Charles and his son Richard Jr. Recluses it seems. Neighbors hardly saw them. Mostly kept to themselves.”

Finnrick pursed his lips thoughtfully “Any magical abilities?”

“They’re not on records if that’s what you mean.” Garrus answered “Never signed up in the academy, not registered with The Council. If they were practitioners they didn’t tell anyone.”

“So what was the spell? I just smell the remnants of spookiness.”

“Hadn’t noticed the rest of the room huh?”

Finnrick frowned before finally getting a good look at the rest of the room: Every inch of the apartment was blanketed with the same black dust that he found in the entrance way. Inches and inches of the substance and that wasn’t the strangest part.

Everything was bent at different and odd angles: chair with crooked legs, the wall clock warped and twisted, the fridge leaning like someone folded it in half. Floorboard reached for the sky and walls split inward.

There was a common misconception about magic. Most people thought spell casters, especially wizards, could command reality to their wills. That magic was capable of impossible feats and it was as simple as snapping your fingers.

The truth was all magic, ranging from divinity to free range nature, was performed on a micro scale. Practitioners did not alter reality but rather shortcut it. Throwing fireballs was as simple as rapidly heating the air until it combusted. Turning invisible was less about vanishing completely as it was bending the light around you to not be seen. Magic was rooted in reality and imagination. If you had the magical strength to perform the magic, the magic often followed your lead.

Of course there were spells that required much more than magical hand and willpower. Powerful magic, like summoning outer beings or raising an army of zombies, required both time and materials. Magic was like any other energy: you needed enough of it to perform what you wanted. The human body could only generate so much magic without dying and resting was necessary to replace any expended in the use of spells. Materials were guidelines for the spell. Feathers for anything with flight, ash for fireballs etc etc.

The other thing needed was to gather energy and store it for the spell’s use. There were different ways to achieve this: Wands, talismans, potions were basically magic soups. The most efficient way to gather energy was the wizards preferred way: Circles.

Finnrick eyed the room closely this time, murmuring under his breath about angles and trajectory. Garrus paid him no mind, well familiar with the private investigators methods.

“If this went like that” he gestured to the wall clock “and that went here.”

Finnrick glanced about, carefully walking about as if worried he was going to step on a landmine.

“Here.” Finnrick found himself staring at a spot in the middle of the room “Ventus.”

He gestured with a hand and light breeze filled the room. It brushed away some of the dust covering floor, revealing the outline of a half melted metal ring.

“What is it?” Garrus turned curiously

“Spell circle. The source of the explosion. I’m willing to bet it’s custom made. Copper, steel. Maybe some bits of tin couldn’t stand the surge.”

“No iron or sliver?”

Finnrick shook his head “That’s for containing or repelling monsters. Necromancy is more about drawing in the evil entities. Or sucking out life.”

Garrus sighed tiredly “Don’t touch?”

“Only if you want to live to see retirement. Might have some pent up magic ready to blow outwards.”

“Understood. I’ll call in our guys. I’ll let you know if something comes up.”

Finn nodded gratefully while pulling out a vial and motioning to the elf “Mind if I do?”

“Be my guest, you might find something we’d miss.”

Finnrick smiled gratefully before scooping up some of the dust and sealing it within the vial.

“Take care Garrus, stop fighting birds Ma!”

“Flying rats!”

-----

The cafe was lively despite being early but that was no surprise given it was Mother’s. Mother’s was the single best food establishment in all Newton Haven and if anyone disagreed, they were allowed to have their opinions.

They were also allowed to be wrong.

Finnrick paused in the doorway, breathing in the scent of well cooked eggs and sweet lemonade. The pop and sizzle of heated grease brought a sense of comfort to the hard working private investigator.

“Finny Drift!” Maddie Copperstone called from behind the counter “How’s my favorite customer holding up?”

Maddie was 40 years young with tastefully curled dark brown hair. Human, little on the short side but fierce. She wore a simple red blouse and jeans, both stained with flour that the apron around her waist did not prevent.

Finnrick bounced over cheerfully, reaching over the counter to give the matron the biggest hug he could muster “I’m good Maddie. Working a case.”

Maddie’s brown eyes searched his face carefully “You always working Finny. You resting as much?”

“Scout’s honor.”

Maddie let out a disbelieving chuckle “You weren’t ever a Scout.”

“Honorary scout after I stopped that bear from eating them.”

“Thought it was a giant raccoon.”

“Yes but people don’t take giant raccoon seriously. He here?”

Maddie clicked her tongue disappointingly but motioned to the booth at the far end of the establishment “Rest.”

Finnrick rose his hand in surrender “After.”

“Never you mean!” Maddie shouted after him.

Amos Frye hadn’t changed much since last he was roaming around Finnrick’s neck of the woods: Handsome with soft gray eyes that reminded Finn of gathering storm clouds. His long black hair was tied in a messy bun held up by a golden pin, a braided strand hung loosely near his face. His beard was much shorter than what Finnrick remembered though he noted the unkempt split ends indicated that Amos hadn’t trimmed it in a few weeks. His iconic dark red sleeveless jerkin and black jean combination would look ridiculous on a lesser man but had allowed the monster hunter to show off his muscular frame. His brown skin was a bit more pale than usual so no doubt Amos had been operating at night lately.

“Finnrick, you cheeky bastard! I am so glad you came!” Amos beamed happily, his various bangles and bracelets clinking together in equally joyous celebration as the two shook hands.

“Amos! Happy to see you.” Finn beamed brightly as he slid into the booth across his old friend “Why though? Family trouble?”

Amos’s joyfully gleam turned dark for a moment.

“No. Have you…?”

Finnrick shook his head quickly “Not a word. Sorry, I hadn’t meant to…”

Amos waved the apology away “No worries cuz. I understand why you’d think that. Coming across the pond isn’t a spur of the moment thing and Os has always been the black sheep of the family. I suppose no news is good news.”

“Right.” Finnrick cleared his throat awkwardly “So what’s the trouble? I doubt you’d call me up for a nip and chat.”

“Rightly so.” Amos confirmed, reaching into the bag at his side and pulling out a folder “Hunting business as usual cuz.”

That made sense: Amos was the latest of a long family whose specialized business was monster hunting. The Fryes had been striking at things that went bump in the night for centuries ever since the first Frye defended the folk of some underground society.

Amos was an average wizard if Finnrick was being generous. That was not a slight against his old friend, it was a matter of fact: Amos spent most of his time honing the physical aspects of his profession which was obvious given the size of his arms. Any spells he knew were purely for defensive or preventive measures so he often communicated with Finnrick for higher quality and complex spellwork.

Finnrick took the folder from Amos and began pouring over its contents.

Most were quickly scrawled notes Amos had noticed about his quarry: Long sliver hairs, canine in nature. Large paw prints found in the areas it had been sighted, far too big to any natural wolf. Wulfvur and werewolf were hastily written and as quickly crossed out. A pattern of hanging out in wild areas, often forests and swamps.

There were pictures too: flashes of sliver, blurs of fangs and muzzles darting in and out of camera frame. It was always a distance away, sprinting deeper into the wildness. It was hard to tell from the photos but Finn guessed it might’ve been 10 feet tall at the very least.

“Why we hunting wolves now?” Finnrick asked curiously.

Amos flagged down the waitress “Contract given to my pa. It was hanging around the marsh lands of the jolly old isles. Someone wanted it gone.”

Something wasn’t clicking with Finn “and you followed it here? From England?”

“Nah cuz” Amos gave a cheeky grin “I tackled it through a portal and found I illegally crossed into America.”

“Ah.” Finnrick nodded in understanding “Fae.”

“Fae?” Amos frowned thoughtfully “I thought that too but I never heard of any snarling wolfie breaking into homes and snatching out wee younglings in them old folktales.”

“Fae are weird.” Finnrick shrugged “Their whole shtick is not making any sense. I had to expel a cat the size of a bus once. Double decker tall.”

Amos whistled in appreciation as he scratched his bread “So fae. Slippy fellow as you can tell. Whatcha recommend?”

“What’s the contract?”

“Banishment. It’s looking like wolfie ended up in the wrong part of town.”

“I think you mean next town over. Fixed a pattern yet?”

“Not yet but I wasn’t looking for one.” Amos admitted “Thought I was tracking some mutant. Fae changes a lot. Magical circles?”

“Easiest way to catch it.” Finnrick agreed “Sliver for sure. Iron would hurt it and based on your files, it hasn’t done anything than thin the local wildlife population. No need to anger mister big bad wolf.”

“Good call. I got some talent to handle a few circles but tracking is not really my speed.”

“I’m on a case but if you swing by the M.R.R.D, maybe they’ll loan you a wizard.”

Amos let out a disappointed sigh “I need to take care this sometime this year Finny. Bloody bureaucracy probably set me back a month at least.”

“There’s always Jaime but she’s pretty busy at work.”

“Jaime huh?” Amos smiled mischievously “I haven’t talked to your sister in a long time.”

“I will curse you.” Finnrick playfully threatened “And not no simple hex either. I’ll make you bald.”

Amos gasped dramatically, clutching at his hair protectively “You wouldn’t dare mate.”

“Shinier than the sun.”

“Okay, okay” Amos conceded “I’m kidding. She’s with Casey anyway. Good couple. Cute couple. He still hopelessly selfless and she still trying to fast track her way to power?”

“Yep.”

“You gonna fix that?”

Finnrick shook his head “It’s their lives. Their choices.”

“Idiots.” Amos chuckled “the lot of them.”

“All you need is love?”

“Spoken true the gospel of my land.”

-----

A few hours later with a brainstorm session completed and a promise to help out the next day, Finnrick left Amos to his work and continued with his own.

It was noon now and as the sun rose high in the sky, Finnrick found himself at the Grimyard.

The Grimyard was the premiere spot for all things magical in Newton Haven: Rows and rows of shops specifically catering to the magic community. The streets were paved with century old cobblestone and the buildings here were various hues of faded brick and mortar. It was easy to get lost in the Grimyard if it was your first time as the Grimyard did not spread out, it stacked downward. Layers upon layers of the Grimyard were actually underground to allow those with issues against the sun to sell their goods and services at all times of the day. Don’t let the dark fool you, anyone with worthy talent or product was here in the Grimyard.

Normally Finnrick would wander around a bit, checking out the various businesses and protective wards around the mile long patch of land but he was on the clock and the sooner he began to figure out what was going on, the sooner he could stop it.

Luckily for him, his destination was right here on the top floor of the marketplace. Specifically furthest back corner.

Knightly Ore was ran by the Knight family. Originally they only sold rare metals and ores which were necessary components for some of the more complicated magicks. At some point the owners expanded into selling more alchemical materials and eventually brewing potions, salves and such for a fee.

Despite decent business, it was the most rundown building in this part of the Grimyard: Broken window shudders with the paint faded down to the original shade when the business first opened decades ago. The humble black door was crooked and creaked whenever it moved

Finnrick knew the owners fairly well but here wasn’t here for them. He was here to see their son.

He pushed past the building, ducking into the alley that led to the lot directly behind the shop.

“Halt!” A voice called out “Who seeks the Brewmaster of the Grimyard?”

“It is I, Finnrick the detective. I got money and I need work done”

The Brewmaster was Theodore Knight, an incredibly talented alchemist who didn’t have the same opportunities Finnrick did: He was pretty tall for his age (14 or 15, Finnrick lost track once or twice) but clearly a teenager given his short lavender hair had a few strands dyed red. His eyes were an unnatural pale blue, paler than the blue of the sky. He wore the usual attire Finn often found him in: A sleeveless dark blue hoodie with a fist sized red gem clasped in front just under his neck and a lighter shade blue t-shirt. He wore black finger-less gloves gripping his brown messenger bag slung around his shoulder. A matching brown pouch hung around the waist of his gray cargo shorts and his brown boots were kept clean despite his place of business was in an alley behind his parents shop.

Theo jumped out from a hidden shadowy corner of the lot “Finn, whatcha got for me now?”

Finnrick reached into his pocket, showing the eager teen the vial that held blacken dust within.

“That’s it?” Theo scoffed, rolling his eyes “I was expecting something…...cooler.”

He took the vial and raised it to the sun. Theo gave it a rough shake and watched it carefully for any properties the strange substance would display.

Theo frowned, clearly unsatisfied by what he saw “You brought me ash? Plain ash? It’s your money but even I think it’s a waste.”

“It’s ash?”

Theo shot the detective a look that screamed how obvious it should’ve been “Yes, ash. Thicker than what I’ve seen but ash all the same.”

Finnrick bit his cheek thoughtfully.

“Look Finn, you know my rates. I dunno what you want me to do but standard fees apply.”

“I’ll paying double.”

The Brewmaster’s eyes narrowed suspiciously “Double for ash? What’s so special about it?”

“Oh nothing." Finnrick pretended to look disinterested “Aside it was taken directly from a crime scene: Necromancy and cast via a half melted spell circle.”

It took Theo a minute to allow the implications of what Finnrick said to sink in. His eyes shifted from suspicion to wild excitement.

“Really?!” Theo clutched the vial like it was his first born child “Necromancy really doesn’t like many alchemy processes. It’s not going to be easy for me.”

“I know right?” Finnrick grinned impishly “It’s almost like I’m going to have to pay double for it.”

“Yeah, you’re gonna have to….” Theo pouted unhappily “Ha freaking ha. Okay smart guy, pay up.”

Finnrick handed over 50 gold. Theo took it eagerly, his eyes lightening up with glee.

Theo paused for a moment, his face turning oddly serious for a teenager.

“It might take me awhile depending on what you want.”

“I want to know what’s in it. Necromancy requires specific ingredients. After that it’ll be easier to track the seller.”

“And the buyer!” Theo blurted out excitedly “Smart.”

Finnrick ruffled his hair playfully “I wish I thought of it. You keep this up and you’re going to run me out of business.”

“I’ll text you when I have something.”

“Pleasure as always Theo.”

“It’s Brewmaster.”

-----

It was 2 in the afternoon when Finnrick made his way back to the Salt-Iron. He stood outside the complex, tossing the remains of his pizza into his waiting maw and crumpling the can of soda he was drinking before tucking into his coat pocket.

“What’s this?” Finnrick asked, utterly confused by the crushed foam cup he pulled from within “Oh right my coffee. I’ve been really at today.”

Finnrick wiped his hands clean and made his way inside the Salt-Iron once more, mulling over the details of the case as he ascended up the stairway.

Blacken ash cast by a spell circle. Both father and son missing with no indication where they went too. Recluses and rarely seen. Necromancy within a threshold.

It was hard to tell how deeply the father and son were involved in spell. Someone who had access to the apartment was behind it no doubt. Spell circles were the most consistent way to cast magic but they took time to build, set and channel energy. You didn’t build a spell circle without knowing exactly what you plan to do with it.

The nature of the magic was also a mystery: Dark magic had various applications and not a single one was good. Finnrick hadn’t much experience with that branch of magic but there was nothing logical about the aftereffects: Ash spread throughout the apartment, clinging to everything like a second skin. There was no signs of an outward blast given that nothing bent in the same direction. Everything in that room decided to twist in whatever wayit felt like. If the spell was supposed to draw in something then chair legs and wall tiles would’ve been pulled directly towards the circle.

“Curiouser and curiouser Alice” Finnrick spoke to no one in particular.

He was on the fifth floor when he noticed something odd.

Finnrick raised an eyebrow as the skies outside the window darken, black and stormy.

A thunderstorm it seems.

Finnrick peered out the window, glancing upwards to see what was going on.

Dark clouds swirled directly overhead. Rain began to lightly drizzle as the skies boomed. Thunder and a moment later lightning trailing across the gathering storm.

A thunderstorm that formed directly above this building.

Without warning.

“Well that’s not ominous.”

Finnrick made the mistake of leaning closer to the window, peering around to see if he could see where exactly the storm was coming from when it happened.

“Watch out below!”

Finnrick noticed three things in that moment: First, was of course, someone shouting to watch out below. Second was the distant sound of claws scratching something wooden, the walls perhaps. Lastly was the thudding of something falling down quickly and towards him.

Finnrick rose his hand, pivoting on his heels in time to see something crash into him.

It wasn’t much of a contest: Both Finnrick and whatever slammed into him broke through the fifth story window and went sprawling into a freefall.

[heloflor]

Fun facts to notice about Cavendish and Dakota’s personalities

So most of this is probably stuff that a lot of people already noticed but I still wanted to compile it. And this list is way longer than I thought it would (did this post accidentally became a character analysis/deconstruction ? Maybe ?). One last thing : “fun” is a very loose term here.

- When he’s excited/very happy about something, Cavendish becomes touchy. For example, you have the last minute of “Time Out”, the scene with Professor Time near the end of the PnF crossover and the resolution of “Managing Murphy’s Law” (the episode where they discover the memory eraser machine). On the same vein as “Time Out”, there’s the beginning of “Abducting Murphy’s Law”.

He also seems to be touchy when he’s nervous, as we see in “Snow Way Out”, though he seems more to bite his nails or hold his hands a certain way when nervous. Also, Dakota never really reacts when Cavendish grabs him (which I find hilarious and adorable; it’s like it was a normal thing for him).

Finally, one could argue that he can get touchy when sad, given the last minute of “Snow Way Out” (Cavendish be like “Sir this is my emotional support husband” everytime he feels a strong emotion that isn’t anger/annoyance), but it only happens once, or Dakota is the one reaching out when Cavendish’s feeling down.

- On a related note to that first point; and though it goes without saying because everyone in the fandom already knows it : Cavendish and Dakota basically have no physical boundaries when it comes to each other. They constantly get into each other’s personal space without warning, with the other not being bothered in the slightest. Like their first physical contact is literally Dakota putting his hand over Cavendish’s (“Smooth Opera-tor”) and none of them seem to care about it, as if it was normal.

They also seem to be the characters who hug and get into each other’s arms the most and, if we were to put every character in pairs (and by pair I mean that for the main trio, it would be three pairs in total) and count how many physical contact every pair had, Dakota and Cavendish would either be the ones with the most contact or very close to the first (since they don’t show up in every episode but when they do appear, they touch at least once in almost every episode).

- Another thing that everybody already noticed but still : that whole gimmick with Dakota explaining something/a joke until he’s cut by Cavendish saying “I get it” (gimmick that they kind of lost in season 2).

- While Cavendish acts in a way that makes him seem very self-centered, every time he and Dakota find themselves in a dangerous situation, Cavendish’s thoughts are first and foremost on Dakota’s wellbeing. Examples : at the beginning of “The Island of Lost Dakotas”, when Cavendish sees the construction site thing fall, the first thing he says is “You [Dakota] could’ve been hurt !”; in “Fungus Among Us”, he calls out for Dakota when the latter tries to run away after eating the small pistachions; in the PnF crossover, he keeps saying “be careful” when Dakota tries to get a ‘time clock’ but most importantly he puts himself in front of Dakota when attacked by a Pistachion, with his facial expression clearly showing that he expects to die, and when Dakota scolds him for it, Cavendish defense shows that he would have no hesitation going back in time to protect Dakota. Finally, in “Disco Do-Over”, he shows concern when Dakota’s being beaten by the old lady; during this season he ghosts Dakota with the excuse of wishing to protect him; and in the last episode of season 2, right before the “I fall down” song, Milo comments on the team’s looks, which brings Cavendish to say “Prepared and Protected”. And as he says “protected”, Cavendish knocks on Dakota’s helmet, as if, when he says “protected”, he’s mostly thinking about Dakota being protected.

- Cavendish and Dakota act differently in public and in private. When in public, Cavendish has that ‘serious’ and ‘done with your shit’ attitude, almost acting all-mighty. But when in private, he’s shown to be much nicer but also drops the confident façade and shows his fears and insecurities. For example, his panic in “Snow Way Out”. As for him being nicer, there’s the fact that he calls Dakota a ‘meanie’ in the Halloween episode, which is an improvement over “We’re Going to the Zoo”. In general, it also feels like he sees Dakota as an equal, compared to how he treated him at the beginning of the show.

As for Dakota, he acts lazy and laid-back in public (to the point where he sometimes reminds me a bit of Sans. Seriously) but, in private, he’s grumpier and talks about what bothers him.

The best example for this dynamic is at the beginning of “Perchance to Sleepwalk”, with Dakota complaining about Block not believing them about the Pistachions and Cavendish actually trying to comfort Dakota.

You know, this difference of dynamic is actually pretty sweet. As I said, Cavendish has a tendency to act like some villain who bosses around his underdog, especially during the first episodes. But the way they act in private shows that their relationship is actually much healthier than that. Also, the way Cavendish expresses his insecurities and Dakota vents to him shows that there’s a lot of communication between them, which can explain how they were able to keep up such a strong relationship for so long. The two of them trust each other, care for each other and view each other as equals. Though, I have to admit, this difference in behavior also really fuel my headcanon that the two had been married for years but had to get used to hide their relationship due to travelling in the past (and the reason why they call each other by their last name is because Cavendish noticed that people used to do that in the 18th century with people who aren’t family, so he convinced Dakota that they should try doing that to hide their relationship better; because let’s be honest, if there’s something between them, they are really bad at keeping it a secret).

- A short one, but Cavendish softens as the first season progresses. At the beginning, he mostly has that ‘all-mighty know-it-all’ attitude and acts like Dakota was his underdog, though there were some signs that Dakota wasn’t letting himself being walked over, the best example being “Murphy’s Lard”.

Then, after “Time Out”, Cavendish starts being nicer, showing more appreciation for Dakota and even showing some amusement about the bet in “We’re Going to the Zoo”. Finally, after “Missing Milo”, Cavendish completely softens up and becomes the character we’re used to see.

- Dakota seems to act laid-back as a counter point to Cavendish’s irritation. When you think about it, the times when Dakota is the most laid back are the times when Cavendish is the most irritated. The best example for this has to be “Abducting Murphy’s Law”. At the beginning of the episode, Cavendish goes on a rant about their job and you can see Dakota, who was frustrated two seconds ago, close his eyes for a few seconds. And when he reopens them, he starts talking about eating lunch. Then, when Cavendish calls him out on his attitude, Dakota becomes serious again to give Cavendish a reality check, only to then ask Cavendish if he wants food. In a way, it feels like Dakota uses his laid-back personality as a way to soothe Cavendish, to try to make his less tense.

- Cavendish seems to have a pretty low self-esteem. This is something that I’m pretty sure everyone has already picked on, but I still feel the need to mention it for one reason. First off, for those who haven’t noticed, basically Cavendish is borderline obsessed with saving the world and being someone important, and the fact that Dakota seems to be a better time-traveler than him probably doesn’t help (“Time Out”). This would also explain his need to give Dakota orders while on mission.

But one thing I want to mention about Cavendish’s desperation to be important is the PnF crossover. Indeed, in this episode, there’s a moment when Cavendish is ready to get himself killed to save Dakota (as mentioned earlier). But thing is, Cavendish’s facial expression bothers me in this scene. He looks resigned, as if knowing that he’s going to die, but at the same time, I feel like his action is some kind of cry for help or cry for attention.

But why would he suddenly feel this way ? Simple : the island of lost Dakotas. As I said, Dakota is a better time agent than Cavendish, which is something Cavendish seemed to have learned to accept, probably helped by Dakota letting him be the boss. But when he discovered the island, Cavendish also discovered just how much of a better person Dakota was. And yes, Cavendish was genuinely touched by what Dakota did, it clearly made him happy. But at the same time, it could’ve created some strong insecurities. After all, he just discovered that Dakota was willing to sacrifice his life hundred of times for him, while all he did was being an ass while on the job. So with that in mind, it’s possible that Cavendish wanted to prove himself to be a protector too and prove it to/repay Dakota, using the first opportunity he could to try showing that; being willing to give his life to show he can be great as well.

But hey, all this is just speculation from someone who almost only writes angst so what do I know.

- Dakota’s a mess during the second half of season 2, but it’s pretty justified given the circumstances. First off, when I say that he’s a mess, I mean that for a guy who’s always chill and in a funny mood, he has no patience whatsoever when interacting with Heinz (though you could argue that he already found Heinz annoying; and there might still be some disappointment regarding the whole ‘Professor Time’ situation). There’s also the episode “Escape” in which Dakota keeps switching between being sad to angry to hopeful (the hope in his eyes when Heinz starts the clone machine…) to miserable/hopeless. We also see him get up quickly, accidentally knocking Cavenpuss in the process and not giving a single shit about it. But yeah, someone please give this poor man his husband back (and I could say “someone please give him a hug” but he does get one in the next episode so…).

I swear you could make a drinking game out of all the times Cavendish’s name is said in this episode alone.

As for the justification of him being a mess, reminder that Cavendish has a track record of dying and Dakota not only has no idea where the guy is but he can’t go back in time as well, meaning that, if Cavendish dies, it will be permanent.

- In “Picture Day”, there’s that scene with Cavendish and Dakota ‘cuddling’ for warmth after arriving in the wrong place. During this small moment, Dakota has a face as if he was chattering his teeth but his teeth doesn’t actually move, giving him a borderline panicked expression. Two interpretations here : 1. It’s an animation error. 2. It’s probably the first time the two are in a dangerous place since their lost their job. In other words, this might be the first time Cavendish could potentially die since they lost the ability to time travel. So what if Dakota’s expression is from realizing just how mortal Cavendish now is, and how powerless he is to stop death ?

- Dakota doesn’t seem to follow a dream or want much from his life. As said before, most of the time, Dakota is pretty laid-back and lazy. The only time he mentions a life goal is in “Time Out” with the Mississippi purchase. But overall, Dakota just acts like he was satisfied with his life, despite not liking his job in season 2 and despite the small ‘apartment’, and seems like he just wants to have fun and be with Cavendish. Heck, in “School Dance”, he admits that he has no idea what the plan is, he’s just following Cavendish around. On that note, he also seems lazy regarding his job as a time agent because he knows that what he does doesn’t really matters when you can just go back in time and fix it (the Sans vibes are coming back !). So yeah, Dakota feels like a guy who accomplished what he wanted to do with his life and is now just want to enjoy his time and be with his husband Cavendish.

- Finally, I know everyone already noticed this, but Dakota has that tendency to just stare at Cavendish with a smile or a smirk while Cavendish is ranting. I’m just mentioning it because it’s adorable.

[hopelessromanticvirgo]

Ground Control To Us

Sobbe social media au 5.3

Chapter 5.2

"So?" Jens asked as soon as Moyo and Aaron weren't visible and were out of the sight. All of them were at the skate park and after they decided to split up for the day, Jens said that they should go and he and Robbe would join them later. Moyo looked at them weirdly and suspiciously and Aaron made a joke about keeping secrets or something but they didn't argue with them and left them alone.

"Spill." Jens looked at him right in his eyes, silently ordering him to start.

After a few minutes of silence Robbe said: "I don't know how."

"What does that mean?"

Robbe sighed and looked away, he had no idea how to process all this and more importantly how to explain.

The thing was that he has a lot of thoughts running through his head, all the different thoughts adding up to each other, creating pyramids, where you couldn't possibly figure out which was the ground and which was the top.

He has been awake for more than a day by now, and it was making it harder for him to focus.

Obviously he couldn't fall asleep last night at all and the school just started again, as if he needed another thing to worry about, it was his last year and the most important one, he had to work hard but it wasn't easy with his mind being pretty occupied with countless "what if" scenarios.

He desperately needs an advice, that's one of the reason why he agreed when Jens wanted to know what was going on. He was trying his best, and Robbe was very grateful for it, after last year when Robbe locked up in his self. He really liked when his friend was making sure he was alright, since it meant that he cared.

Robbe knows he can talk to Jens about anything but he is aware that there are things going on with him, that his friend wouldn't understand, he'd try for Robbe's sake but sometimes that wasn't enough. Robbe needed somebody who knew and felt the emotions like him.

And he believed, he found that person, even if he wasn't so sure about that fact right now.

He wanted to keep it short so he attacked Jens without giving him a warning, since it'd be better for both of them.

"It's Sander."

Jens looked at him confusingly.

"Um, what? Sander?"

Robbe nodded his head, getting more and more nervous.

"Wait. As in your Sander?"

His Sander.

Robbe felt the blush creeping up on his neck and checks.

"Sander you can't seem to shut up about?"

He couldn't do anything, couldn't move.

Just to say this out loud was so crazy and mind blowing, he felt like he'd wake up from a dream any second now.

Jens took his silence as a yes and his eye went wide like a black hole.

"What?" Robbe sighed and realized, there was no way to make him understand other than telling him the whole thing, so after he built up his courage, that's exactly what he did.

He told him everything, starting from his secret fan account to what Sander told him about "going undercover" video.

Jens mouth has been dropped on the floor since Robbe opened his lips, he tried to say a few words here and there but in general, he was quiet, trying to take it all in.

"Fuck me." He whispered after Robbe finally finished talking.

Robbe only looked at him.

"How are you so calm?" Jens asked him like he couldn't believe Robbe didn't make a bigger deal out of it.

"I'm not. I'm anything but calm."

"How are you feeling then?" The eye contact was making Robbe feel the situation more intimately, making it seem like the more personal than it actually was.

"Like I want to scream until my throat breaks."

It was the truth, Robbe didn't know how to react, what to do. He was lost and stuck in the endless possibilities. He was still very much shaken up to do anything about it. He went numb, shocked, unable to do anything than to think.

"Wait a minute, so you're telling me that, you have been talking to a fucking famous singer all this time and it's no other than Sander Driesen himself who you have been obsessed with for years?" Robbe noticed how Jens face got whiter and whiter since they sat down.

"I don't know." Robbe confessed.

"Excuse me? What do you mean you don't know?" Jens had his eyebrows so high up on his forehead, Robbe was getting worried for his face muscles.

"I feel like it's a joke."

That's the most dominant thought in his head, standing over other ones.

"A joke? Didn't you say that he talked to you?"

"He did." Robbe felt that Jens wasn't following where he was going with this and thought if whatever he was saying even made sense.

"Then why do you think like that?"

"I just can't believe it. Literally any other thing could have happened but that. I was thinking all day long and maybe somebody is pranking me very badly and evilly?" Jens could clearly see that Robbe's voice got scared and shaky and realized, the brunet meant a lot by this words, then he would admit.

"How could they?"

"I don't know, they probably had his voice recorded or something since it was really him." At that, Robbe looked away, staring at the horizon.

Looking away from the truth, from the obvious.

"Maybe it was somebody whose voice was similar to his?"

"No, it was his voice. I'm one hundred percent sure." The way Robbe said it, so confident by the statement, made Jens realize that he must really know the guy.

"Why is it too impossible for it to be actually him?" Robbe looked at him in the eyes, his face changing from serious to desperate, hopeless.

"It's too crazy Jens. It's not something that happens in real life."

Just to think that it must be really him was so weird, like he was reading a book rather than living in the real life.

"Well, I don't know where you have been living and if it was under a rock but celebrities always make going undercover as fans videos, so why does it seems so unbelievable?" Jens tried to reason with him again, only for Robbe to get quieter and lower his voice a little bit, hugging his self with his arms.

"Why did you get quiet?" Jens dared and asked.

"I was thinking - maybe - he and I - it's too impossible and maybe he was - shit." Robbe put his head down in his arms, couldn't finish whatever he wanted to say.

"He what?"

Robbe looked anywhere but him, getting more and more insecure and unreachable as they were speaking. He took a deep breath and threw his head back.

"Maybe it's really him and he's just messing with me." He didn't want to say it but that thought was eating him alive and he couldn't keep it to his self anymore.

"He's teasing you and joking?" That sounded like an absurd for Jens.

"Yeah. Maybe he's just having fun." He felt that if he and Jens would continue talking about this, his eyes would start to get wet.

"You know him right?" Robbe was taken back by that.

"Yeah." He sounded both sure and unsure at the same time.

"Is he somebody who would play with other people's feelings?" Jens put his right eyebrow up while asking this question.

"No. Definitely not." Robbe shook his head so quickly that he almost heard his neck crack.

"Then, I don't think he's playing with you." Jens liked the way this conversation took a turn but Robbe still didn't seem satisfied and he started mumbling something furiously.

"It's just. It's him - and I'm just me." He whispered and no matter how glad he was that he was finally talking about this with another human being, he wanted nothing more than to go home right now.

"And he likes you. Why is that so hard to believe?" Jens seemed so calm about this, while the thought of Sander liking Robbe in any kind of way, made him want to faint and drop on the ground.

"Even if he does, he won't, when he meets me. Maybe he likes the way I talk but - fuck Jens, you have no idea what I said. The things I said about him, to him." Robbe was definitely embarrassed, not about being a fan and doing normal things for fandom but telling all this to Sander felt so humiliating. He spent the whole morning rereading their chat from the very beginning and he realized how obvious it was that he was talking to Sander. Even if he felt and had his suspicions about it, he would never think that it would be him, not even in his dream.

"Where are these sudden insecurities coming from? Weren't you the one who literally asked him out?" Jens had a very good point indeed, Robbe has been nothing but a flirt with him just because it was normal and felt great, like a second nature, he's usually never like this but it felt amazing specially when he was receiving it back as well.

"It's different now."

"Why? Because you know who he is?"

How couldn't Jens see his point, Robbe couldn't understand.

"Yeah. It's him, it's Sander and when it comes to him, I'm anything but confident." He saw how Jens rolled his eyes and smiled weakly at him as if telling Robbe he knew what he meant and he was being stupid, at the same time.

"Don't you want to be with him? Maybe even be his friend? Wasn't this like your biggest dream?" And he hit him in his weakest point, cut him open and watched him bleed.

"It is." Of course it was.

"Then what's the problem?" Jens wasn't expecting the reactions he got from asking this question. Robbe's voice got higher, as if he believed that if he'd say it louder, Jens would see why all this was both impossible and crazy.

"He lied to me Jens. For months. He didn't say anything and he let me say all those things about his self. He let me rant, he let me talk and explain stuff about his relationships. He fucking used me to have a laugh at later." Then Robbe's eyes went wide at a sudden realization.

"He listened to me freak out after I saw him the other day. How can I even talk to him normally after all this?!"

It was too fucked up, beyond repairing fucked up.

"He was doing it for a video at first, wasn't he?

"Yeah."

"Well, he couldn't told you, he didn't have any choice and you said that he told his friend that video was off after he started liking you, didn't you?"

Robbe nodded his head.

"He realized he liked you and didn't want to just use you for his video and I guess it went downhills after that, I believe that he wanted to tell you but he said he couldn't find the right time. I'm sure he feels horrible that he wasn't able to tell you the truth himself the way he wanted. I think you should just talk to him." God, how bad Robbe wanted to believe him.

"I can't." He murmured.

"You can and you must."

"No, no. I can't. It's Sander. I can't just be calm and say it's not a big deal when it comes to him." He'd embarrass his self more, he'd freak out, he was being his self before because he had no idea it was him and now, no matter how hard he tried, he'd always watch what he was saying, and that sounded so stressful and exhausting.

"It is a big deal and of course you're not going to be calm about it but Robbe, as you just said, it's Sander. Don't you want to be close to him?" Jens knew exactly what he said and how much of an effect it would have on Robbe and smiled as if he was saying "I won, I'm right."

Robbe wants.

He wants nothing more than that.

Chapter 5.4

[bi-naesala]

Feel alive

Fandom: Yakuza

Rating: T

Warnings: /

Relationships: Majima Goro/Nishikiyama Akira

Characters: Nishikiyama Akira, Majima Goro

Additional Tags: Canon-Typical Violence, Fighting, First Kiss

Summary:

Nishikiyama and Majima keep seeing each other after Kiryu goes to prison.

(Also on AO3)

It’s hard to tell what has brought Nishikiyama to go along with this. He never tries to dwell too much in this train of thought, knowing that it would only bring to the surface very unpleasant feelings that he’d like to keep hidden.

The thing is this: without his precious “Kiryu-chan” around, Majima has been getting restless, and Nishikiyama needs to get stronger. Yes, he’s making a name for himself and yes, people now respect - fear - him, but it’s not enough, and as much as it hurts his pride to admit it, he knows that it would sting even more when Kiryu is released from prison and he’s still not on his level.

Between the two, Nishikiyama has always been the brains kind of guy and sure, that can certainly help when it comes to pure combat, but he’s aware that he can’t rely only on that.

 That’s why, when he gets news of Majima being around his territory - poor thing must be so restless without someone to fight - he goes to personally greet him, provoking him into a fight.

What better way to get better, after all, that measuring himself with the same person Kiryu used to go toe-to-toe against?

He should be able to get some very nice pointers from this, and besides, consider this some sort of payback for what happened at Serena during the Empty Lot affair.

 He puts up a nice fight, but in the end, the one who comes on top is Majima. Nishikiyama knew this already, but just like Serena, it hasn’t stopped him; he’s tenacious like that.

When Majima leaves, Nishikiyama feels like he’s been stomped by a pack of wild animals, and yet there’s a manic smile on his face.

Today he’s learned a lot.

He wasn’t expecting Majima to come back, and then to come back again, and again.

He had assumed that once he would’ve realized - but he must’ve have known already, right? - that Nishikiyama wasn’t on the same level as Kiryu, he wouldn’t have shown his face around anymore, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Alright, this is something he can work with. Actually, for him, this is excellent news: it means that he’ll keep getting stronger and stronger. By the time Kiryu gets out of jail, he’ll have surpassed him; oh, that sounds so good in his head: he’s always lived under Kiryu’s shadow, but soon he won’t anymore…

 Still, he can’t for the life of him figure out why Majima keeps going back to him.

Is it because he’s the only one with enough balls to openly challenge him? Maybe, since Nishikiyama is pretty sure that only Kiryu has ever sought him out for a fight; everyone else is scared shitless of him.

Maybe he feels he owes it to Kiryu to check on his bro, and although this should enrage him because it would mean that, as always, Kiryu’s at the center of attention, on the other he finds himself not that against the idea of someone - anyone - checking on him. Had it happened sooner, maybe things might’ve gone differently…

 Regardless of the reason, Nishikiyama welcomes Majima with open arms every time and with the sharpest smirk on his face.

 It’s quite… liberating, Nishikiyama can’t deny that.

For once he doesn’t have to think about the family, he doesn’t need to worry about his plan; all he needs to do is to dodge and punch, dodge and kick, get up and do it all over again, maybe even try to get Majima’s tanto and use it against him if he feels bold.

He wonders if this is why Majima is the way he is, if he too feels this intoxicating high, though he’s not pretentious enough to think he can even begin to comprehend what goes on inside that head of his.

Whatever the reason could be, what truly matters is that they both keep indulging in this unspoken thing they share. It feels good to be able to let go, even if for just a short while.

Maybe that’s why they keep coming back to each other. That and no other reason whatsoever…

  Surprisingly, they don’t always fight, or better, they don’t always fight first. Sometimes Majima would find himself at Nishikiyama’s office to drag him somewhere to have a drink or have some fun - at least Majima’s idea of fun - and then they would fight.

Why do the do this? Fuck if they know, but it’s fun, so they keep doing it. Anything’s better than being sucked in the monotony of being a clan’s patriarch, despite the surge of power Nishikiyama feels at the growth of his family; soon, it’ll become Tojo’s strongest, he knows it.

  He’s not as familiar with using a bat as much as Majima is, but he still manages to give him a run for his money at the batting center.

Sure, Majima still wins, but only by a small margin. Not that they’re keeping track anymore, since Nishikiyama has decided that this is enough foreplay and goes to hit Majima right as he’s preparing for another ball. He manages to hit him on his side before he can dodge out of the way, sending him stumbling for a few steps.

“Naughty naughty, Nishi-chan~” he says, using the nickname that he knows Nishikiyama hates, a manic smile on his face. “Someone’s got to teach ya a lesson…”

Nishikiyama can’t help but to return the smile, staring at Majima with his sharp gaze. “Oh? And will you be the one doing the honors?”

A laugh.

“Ya bet yer fuckin’ ass I am!”

 Majima doesn’t pull any punches, but neither does Nishikiyama. At first it almost feels like a swordfight, with Majima trying to get him with his bat, while Nishikiyama parries, but in the end he decides to let his bat go, preferring to use a style more familiar to him.

Sure, going against a bat-wielding maniac unharmed seems like a bad idea, but Nishikiyama feels confident in his own abilities. Besides, where would the fun be otherwise?

At first, Majima forces him on the defensive, but eventually, Nishikiyama manages to kick his bat out of his reach, sending the other on a giggling fit.

“Not bad, Nishi-chan!” he says, hand going to his back pocket to grab his trusted tanto, which he unsheathes and points at Nishikiyama. “But now it’s time to get serious!”

“Heh. Bring it.”

  They keep staring at each other as they catch their respective breath.

Nishikiyama has gained a few cuts, courtesy of Majima, but overall, it’s all superficial damage. Majima isn’t doing that well himself: his face is beginning to swell very close to his only good eye; Nishikiyama almost feels guilty about the way he stomped on his face, but everything’s fair in love and war, he supposes, and they are at war, sort of.

Besides, it’s not like Majima is against cheap tactics, given that, as soon as he gets up, he tries to jam his fingers up his eyes to return the favor, having left his tanto discarded on the ground.

Nishikiyama has to hold his arm back with both his hands, furiously pushing against Majima, who then uses the momentum to make him lose his balance, going down with him. He barely realizes he’s fallen on the ground until he opens his eyes and sees Majima hovering over him - he’s heavier than he thought - with a victorious smirk on his face.

“Looks like I win.”

All Nishikiyama is able to do is to try to catch his breath as he keeps staring at Majima. He must’ve hurt his head in the fall, because all he can think about is how good - majestic even - he looks like this, panting and sweating for the fight, with his signature manic gaze still in his eyes, instead of arguing that just becomes he’s on top of him now, doesn’t mean he’s won the fight. Yes, something must be terribly wrong with him…

 Even when he’ll think back about this moment, he still has no idea about what has possessed him to grab Majima by the neck of his hideous snakeskin jacket and crash their lips together. He’ll only know that he did it, that he was the one who initiated it.

Unexpectedly, Majima doesn’t oppose any resistance. By the sound that escapes his lips before Nishikiyama can seal them with his own, he must be surprised by such a tactic, except that it is no tactic at all. Even if Nishikiyama doesn’t know what it is, he’s certain that it’s not just a trick, because if it was, he would’ve premeditated it, instead of letting it be something done in the spur of the moment.

What has to be more surprising, though, it’s how good it feels. Besides… is that blood, what Nishikiyama tastes on his lips? Must be, given that he’s kissing Majima of all people, but who drew it from whom? That’s the real question, not that the answer really matters though.

 When they pull away, Nishikiyama has no idea what to expect from someone as unpredictable as Majima, so he tries to mentally prepare himself for anything, and yet, he doesn’t know how to respond when Majima looks down at him, still shocked, and says:

“No, looks like you win.”

It startles a chuckle out of Nishikiyama that immediately evolves into a laugh, and soon he’s followed by Majima. Do either of them know why they’re cackling like two kids? Absolutely not, but they’re doing it anyway.

 Then Nishikiyama drags Majima down again, and they kiss over and over and over, neither of them knowing how long they’ll feel this insatiable thirst for the other, but also with no intentions of stopping.

Eventually they’ll have to get back to being the leaders of their respective family, but for now they’re just two people who are into each other and nothing more, two people who are enjoying this moment and have all the intentions of making the most of it.

 Damn, Nishikiyama had forgotten about this feeling.

It’s the closest he’s been to alive in a very long time.

[infriga]

Well yeah but that was after seeing the gross monster that particular food made he was happy at the suggestion of ordering a pizza though in together breakfast. All that mattered to him was spending time together, it seemed like he had to BEG for it in early SU. And then of course in SUF, after all the effort earlier in his life, and time spent doing nothing felt like it was undeserved and it hurt to just try and spend time with people you love. They took too long to reciprocate.

My post about the together breakfast was mainly poking fun at how people had an existencial crisis over Steven not liking things that he used to like as if it made him a completely different person. In reality out of the three things they suggested that he supposedly used to like only one of them was something he was ever actually into beyond like one episode, if at all. He was never into Pupcopter during SU, he was into Dogcopter. Pupcopter is basically the version meant for extremely young children, and would be like asking a 16 year old to watch Paw Patrol with you. And he didn't even want to eat the Together Breakfast by the end of its titular episode. It only showed up one other time during one brief scene during the wedding as a call back, vanished before the ceremony started, and was otherwise never seen again as far as I can remember. Only the cheeseburger backpack was something he liked and used that he stopped using in Future, but he'd still kept it and still used a hot dog duffle bag, so it wasn't like he hated it or didn't still use food themed bags, he just didn't want to use a bag that was 4 years old, possibly because it's actually really annoying to use a bag with too many pockets when you're using it for something important like school. So I always felt like it was a bit of an overreaction. I don't mean the jokes and stuff people made, I'm sure many of them weren't serious and were just joking around about our little boy growing up, but I remember there were plenty of people taking it way too seriously. I specifically recall one person literally stating that Steven had become a "husk of his former self" after that episode which is patently ridiculous, and I got a bit peeved about it back then. I noticed the ending of Together Breakfast during a rewatch so I thought I'd make a sassy post about it. But I do want to address something you mentioned in this ask seriously, as well as some other things related to it that are on my mind regarding Future.

Edit: I’m putting the rest of this under a cut because I didn’t realize how long this got when I wrote it on my phone. TL;DR: I believe Snow Day is more about Steven’s imposter syndrome than about the gems taking too long to reciprocate his desire to spend time with them. Below is a bunch of my thoughts about Steven’s shift from seeing gem missions as adventures and a way to hang out with the gems to seeing them as a responsibility and something he was obligated to do for the greater good whether he wanted to or not.

You're right that in the beginning he got left alone a lot and often had to beg the gems to spend time with him, and he felt as if he had to be a crystal gem and be useful in order to go on missions with them, which he thought was his only way to hang out with them as shown in An Indirect Kiss. But later on things changed in that department. The gems did start spending more time with him outside of missions, the problem was that his desire to be useful and help with missions morphed into something else. Take The Test as an example. In the beginning of the episode the gems are playing a board game with Steven, spending time with him and having fun with something that wasn't related to missions. But then their time hanging out together is interrupted when Steven finds the statue from the moon spire and expresses guilt over leaving it behind, leading to the revelation that it was a test he failed. In a way that scene is the perfect analogy for the change in his views regarding missions, because that episode is when Steven's treatment of missions shifts from cool adventures to an obligation, and it's also when his priorities shift from himself and what he wants, to others and what they need. It stops being about his desires of being included, and starts being about putting his own problems aside to help others, and about him wanting to live up to the expectations others have of him. He was expected to pass an easy test and he failed, and because of that the spire was destroyed. The gems didn't know how to handle him, so he ignored his own hurt and feelings of inadequacy to make them feel better and boost their confidence. And from that point on, he mostly acted based on the greater good, and on not falling short of what others expected of him because he was afraid of the potentially destructive consequences of failure. You can really see the difference between how Steven saw missions during Cheeseburger backpack and how he saw them later on after the test when you go back to rewatch that episode. In Cheeseburger Backpack he saw it as a chance to do something fun and cool with the gems, to be a member of their exclusive group, which is a view he still has by An Indirect Kiss, though he's already started to see it as him having to live up to his mother's legacy, at that point he just sees that as his method of being able to hang out with them by being useful. After The Test he takes things much more seriously as a duty that he's obligated to do for the sake of the earth, and as something he sees as a responsibility. You can especially see this in Marble Madness just 6 episodes later, where Connie treats the events occurring as something cool and adventurous, while Steven treats it as an important issue that they've been dealing with, one that by the third interruption he's clearly not happy about. Sure, you could argue that it's because of what happens between those episodes causing him to take things more seriously, like Mirror/Ocean Gem or Warp Tour, but The Test has been noted by Rebecca and others as a turning point for Steven for a reason. Now I’m not saying Steven didn’t want to help people for the sake of helping people, he did because he’s a good kid who’s empathetic and kind, but he also clearly grew to view the missions and gem drama as more important than how he felt, even when they were something he didn’t want to do or resulted in him getting hurt and upset. He ended up thinking that helping people was more important than what he wanted or needed, and that came to a head in Future when his problems came back to bite him all at once and he couldn’t dismiss them anymore. The problem wasn’t that he wanted to help people, the problem was that he pushed his own needs aside to do it at any cost.

So I don't think the issue in Snow Day was that their reciprocation was too late, because they'd reciprocated before that point. I think the problem was that the way they reciprocated played into his feelings of inadequacy and his fear of falling short of the expectations of others. He grew up feeling like he couldn't live up to his mother's legacy, and even after he managed to break free of that he started feeling like he couldn't live up to his own legacy. He thought people didn't see him for who he really is now, and we learn in Everything's Fine that on top of his ptsd he has a really bad case of imposter syndrome. So when the gems want to spend time with him and they base it on the person he used to be years ago, it just further plays in to the idea that they haven't been paying attention to he is now, that he's still being seen as the 14 year old who saved the galaxy, and that's who they want him to be again. It would feel very isolating and alienating for the parents who say they miss you to act like they miss who you used to be rather than who you are currently.

That said, it was good that by the end of the episode he told them how he felt and they adjusted their behaviour. personally I do still think that episode had a happy ending all things considered, and I don't think it contributed much if at all to his issues down the line, it just wasn't enough to prevent them. I think it served more as a hint to some of his insecurities regarding how he felt like a fraud because he thought everyone saw him as something he wasn't.

I find it interesting how some people reacted to that episode and to Steven during Future in general. We the audience should know that he is a good person and not a monster, and that his mistakes don't define him, and that he should be allowed to change without being held up to an impossible standard, because that's what the show has always championed: the ability to grow. Yet a vocal section of the audience reacted in a way that bought into the kind of insecurities Steven had cultivated. They reacted as if a few minor changes were the end of the world, and that because he wasn't exactly the same kind of person he was in SU that meant he was somehow a worse person, a "husk of his former self" so to speak, even though he was still a kind person who wanted to help people. He wasn't refusing to hang out with the gems because he had become asocial and hated them, or because he was an edgy teenager, it was because their attempts at spending time with him were done in a way that made him unhappy. Once they adapted to something more comfortable for him he was perfectly happy to hang out and have fun with them.

The biggest difference between Steven then and now was that Steven issues had built up to a point where they couldn't be pushed aside or ignored anymore. The way he'd helped people in the past had proven to be unhealthy in the long run due to the fact that he always minimized his own needs and desires over those of others. So a chunk of the fandom had done exactly what Steven accused everyone of doing in Everything's Fine: they expected him to be the same kid from before who was perfect, mature, and always knew what to do. They thought of him as an angel who only helped people. In that episode he says "I'm not that kid anymore" but the thing is, he was never that kid. Much of that so-called maturity and decisiveness and perfection was actually just a traumatized child trying to live up to impossible expectations while utilizing unhealthy coping methods to push his own feelings aside in order to help others and save the world.

When Growing Pains aired, a lot of those people went suspiciously silent. No more people calling him edgy, no more people saying he was turning into White Diamond, no more people saying he was making the same mistakes as his mom, no more people accusing him of having developed an ego, and no more people saying Steven was going to be the "villain" of Future. Or at least there were way less people saying those things. That's why I think that episode was so important. It blatantly stated "this is the behaviour of a traumatized 16 year old who has experienced multiple traumatic childhood events. Trauma shapes our behaviours and our physical reactions and has a long lasting or even permanent effect on our body and mind." it made everyone take a long hard look at what Steven had been through through without the rose-tinted lenses of nostalgia. Obviously there were still some people with bad takes calling Steven an asshole, but there were way less of them than there were before the episode slapped us in the face with the reality that the show was taking this seriously and always had been. And I hope it caused a lot of people to take that same hard look at stuff in real life, so they could be aware of the effects of trauma on others instead of harshly judging trauma survivors for not being perfect and having difficulties and struggling, so that they can hopefully stop demonizing the less convenient and less pretty symptoms of trauma as character flaws that make someone evil, and so they can hopefully see things in less black and white or good and evil like the internet is prone to do. And maybe some people can even see those same issues in themselves and feel encouraged to actually seek help, and maybe they can feel like they're seen and heard even if it's just by a cartoon about dancing singing lesbian space rocks.

Sorry this got so long, I have a lot of thoughts about this and I wanted to just get them out there.

[rachelbethhines]

Digimon Adventure Shipping Masterpost - Part 1

Digimon is the first fandom I ever got into where I started actively shipping characters, and Digimon is a treasure trove for multi-shippers since it features a large group of friends being forced together for long periods of time and being emotionally vulnerable while fighting for their lives and relying on one another. 

Now for this reason, I maintain that there’s a good basis for nearly every possible ship out there and I’ll be talking about most of them within the Adventure continuity. Just giving the lowdown about them, fairly listing their pros and cons, and explaining why someone might like them while others might not. Afterwards giving my personal thoughts on each. 

Now a few ground rules before we start. First off I’m only covering the adventure seasons and movies, minus the reboot and the newest anniversary film as I haven’t seen those yet. Secondly I’ll only be covering the main human characters of those films/seasons. Last off, I won't be covering crack and OT3s, just because this list is too damn long as it is. Characters must have interacted on screen before, be no more than five years apart, and this probably can go without saying, but they can’t be related to each other.   

Oh, and any antis starting shit will be blocked! 

So without further ado, LET THE SHIPPING BEGIN 

Tai x Matt (Taito)

Pros: If you like rivals to lovers, boy do I have a ship for you. Taito is like the typifier of this trope. They constantly fight, but are best friends, and when they do argue it’s usually over deeper things than just their rivalry/jealousy. Once the fighting is over, they tend to become stronger people with a firmmer relationship. They also hold a lot of respect for each other that only grows as they get older.  While not a ‘canon’ ship, (most of these aren’t) there’s a lot of gay subtext between them, especially towards the end of Tri. Now how much of that is the writers throwing the fans a bone and how much of it is just anime being anime, who knows.    

Cons: If you’re not a fan of the rivals to lovers trope than this ship may not be for you. You may prefer them as friends only, and hey that’s valid since they indeed are friends first and foremost. Also if you’re looking for a more officially canon gay ship/rep you may be disappointed with how they are portrayed. 

Personal Ranking (6/10) I’m one of those people who doesn’t typically like ‘rivals to lovers’. Just not my thing. However I’ve warmed to this ship over the years due to fanworks and the fact that Tri is indeed very, very gay. 

Tai x Sora (Taiora)

Pros: I don't know if this is the most popular pairing in the show, but it’s high up there. All throughout the first season and the second movie these two were heavily hinted at. Especially in the dubs. Sadly it came to nothing, but for a lot of people this was the first thing they shipped in the fandom.  But beyond just the hints, these two have that ‘childhood best friends to lovers’ dynamic that resonates with a lot of people. They’ve known each other the longest out of the group and were friends before getting stuck in the digital world. Now add in how they they compliment each other so well, Sora’s level headedness getting through to Tai stubbornness, Tai’s optimism and can do attitude encouraging the more doubt ridden Sora, and their shared interests in sports and kicking butt, and you can see how this pairing took off. 

Cons: The writers tried their damndest to sink this ship in season two by pairing off Sora with Matt. Much to everyone’s frustration.  Even Sorato fans agree that it was handled poorly. Since then, the writers of the fourth film and Tri have tried to keep things more open ended between the three of them, but for some it’s not enough and the bad writing can indeed kill this ship.  There’s also the usual reasons of simply not gelling with their dynamic or preferring them with other characters. Some may even like the unusual subversion of the lead guy not getting the girl but remaining good friends. 

Paronal Ranking (8/10) - Count me with those that first shipped them in season one when it first aired. That said, they were never my absolute favorites so season two’s reveal didn't hurt me as much as it did for some others. It’s still my preferred ship for the two of them, but I’m flexible and open to others. 

Tai x Izzy (Taishirou)

Pros: While not as popular as the previous ships, Taishirou is really cute. Izzy and Tai interact with each other a lot. In fact Tai might be the character Izzy is on screen with the most besides his digimon. They’re very much a comedy duo, but with enough underlining heart to heart moments to sell the idea that they have a working basis for something deeper.  Also Izzy isn’t afraid to call Tai out on his bullshit, which is good, but it’s not like Tai ever actually listens.

Cons: They are primarily a comedy team. Tai is very much a foil for Izzy’s more serious nature, but play for laughs rather than angst like it is with Taito. If that doesn’t jive with you then this ship isn’t going to appeal to you as much as some others. 

Personal Ranking (7/10) - I more drawn to this dynamic then say the aggressive sexual tension of Taito, so this was always going to rank higher than that one for me. 

Tai x Mimi (Michi)

Pros: Mimi is one of the more popular characters to ship with. She gets paired with nearly everyone in the group routinely. Now this isn’t the most popular ship featuring her, but it has its share of hardcore supporters.  I think it’s cause both she and Tai are the most outgoing and optimistic of the group. So it’s a case of two very upbeat people pumping each other up while also being forward enough to call out each others bull. 

Cons: If you prefer Mimi with someone else this is obviously not going to appeal to you. There’s also the issue of her not being with the main group in season two and therefore doesn’t have as strong a relationship with the others as she should. 

Personal Ranking (7/10) - I really like just about all of the Mimi ships and this is no exception. 

Tai x Joe (Taijyou)

Pros: If Mimi is over-shipped then Joe is under-shipped. All the Joe ships are underrated, imho. Heck Joe himself is underrated. He plays off most of the characters really well, including Tai. If you like ‘opposites attract’ then you can’t get more opposite than Joe and Tai and they’re really entertaining for it. Plus there also those more serious moments to suggest that they are good friends and have that basis to build off of. 

Cons: They’re again a comedy duo, and that might not be your thing. More than that though, they have the same arc. They’re opposites but they grow and develop in much the same way. As such, they don’t team up as much as say Tai and Izzy do. 

Personal Ranking (6/10) - I really like Joe, he’s one of my favs, but this isn’t the best ship with him. Though it still can be cute on occasion. 

Tai x T.K. (Taikeru)  

Pros: This pairing only works if we’re talking about season two or later, and that is where they have less interaction. But I won’t act like there’s zero basis here. They were stuck together in S1 same as all the others and did have lots of friendly interactions there, they do team up now and then in 02, and they are there with the rest of the group in Tri.  As far as dynamics go, both older Tai and older T.K. are very chill and laid back people. They’re more level headed, but always up for fun when they aren’t busy saving the world, so it’s easy see them getting along well with one another. There’s also the unrequited crush route if you wanna go that way with T.K. 

Cons: There is an age gap here. Now it doesn’t matter as much in later seasons or post series, but it can be enough to put people off initially. Especially since it’s the time period when that age gap would actually get in the way is also when they have most of their interactions with one another.  I call this a good for fanfiction but not so good for AMVs pairing. 

Personal Ranking (4/10) - Yeah not enough of them interacting when they’re both older to really sell this one for me. I’ve read the occasional fanfic with them, but I don't actively ship it myself. 

Tai x Davis (Taisuke) 

Pros: Davis and Tai are two peas in a pod. In fact they are so alike that the series comments on this several times and Tai even appoints him as the new leader. As such they get to bond over a lot of things on the occasions they do interact.  Also, while Davis is the same age as T.K., he and Tai only ever interact in season 02 when they’re both already young teens. So things are a little less awkward on that front.  There’s also the unrequited crush route, or post series fanfic, as always. 

Cons: They only ever interact in 02 where Tai’s role is greatly reduced, so limited screen time. Hopefully the upcoming anniversary movie will give us some more interaction between all of the 02 gang and the original group, regardless of shipping. There’s also the fact that age gap will be a hurdle for some people no matter what point in their timeline you have them hook up. Three or four years don’t matter when their both adults in their twenties, but it can make a difference in high school, so context is key with a ship like this. It helps that the show covers several years and all the characters age, but it’s up to you if that’s enough or not.  Then there’s people who just don’t like their dynamic and think they’re too similar to each other. 

Personal Ranking (5/10) I like it more than Taikeru, if only because Davis is my favorite character in 02 and like the rest of the new digidestined, he really doesn’t get enough love from the fandom. That said it’s still not that great of ship for all of the previously stated cons. I’ll give the occasion fan fiction or AMV a shot, but it’s all about context and how it’s presented. 

 Tai x Yolie (Taiyako)

Pros: She is the oldest of the 02 gang, and like Davis she only ever interacts with Tai in S2, so it’s a little less awkward to ship them than some.  Also she’s really assertive and outgoing and not one to put up with bull from anybody; so she she can balance out Tai’s impulsiveness in theory. Likewise he can calm her down enough to think, if we’re talking post Tri. 

Cons: They barely interact even in 02. They’re together in group scenes and there’s the potential they’ve interacted off screen, but there’s no ‘one on one’ screen time for them. Because of that, plus the small age gap between them, no one really ships these two. They’re the ultimate rare pair, and once again I hope the new movie will provide some genuine interaction between the 02 gang and the original group. Cause at the moment, dynamic wise, they’re kind of just a watered down Michi. 

Personal Ranking (4/10) - Yeah I’d just sooner just read about Michi, but the rarity of them does pique my interest just a little bit. I’m now genuinely curious how they would play out post Tri. 

Tai x Cody (Taiori)

Pros: Does anyone ship this? Ok, well in the interest of fairness, I did say the cut off was five years and that they had to interact at some point and they do fit the bill, so... Here I go.  If you wanted to, you could do a post series route with these two. One is a lawyer for digimon rights and the other is an UN ambassador for the Digital World, so they would work together often. So there’s some grounds there for a childhood friends become co-workers to lovers plot.  You can also pull a one sided school boy crush if you go for a pre-Tri route instead. 

Cons: Like with Yolie, Tai only interacts with Cody in group settings during 02 and never one on one. There’s the potential that they hung out more off screen, but unlike Yolie, the age gap between them is wide enough that that seems improbable.   Maybe, The Last Evolution will give us something more to go off with, just for their friendship sake if nothing else. After all these two will be working closely together someday according to the epilogue. 

Personal Ranking (2/10) There’s just not enough there. I might be interested in that future based story I pitched, but even then it’s a stretch. 

Tai x Ken (Kenchi) 

Pros: Ken is unique in the fact that he’s a former villain, and in Tri it seemed as if he had reverted back to his old ways. This ultimately proved not to be the case, but since Tai is the main hero of Tri, you had the basis for a hero/villain ship for a while. 

Cons: Like with all of the 02 cast, Tai doesn’t interact with Ken much. They appear in group scenes during 02 and that’s it. Even in Tri, it turns out that wasn’t the real Ken all along. Though his VA there is going to be his VA in final movie, which is cool I guess.  There’s better ships with theses two, and if you want a villian/hero thing there’s more options for Ken. Plus there’s the awkward age gap, tho it’s no worse then than say Taisuke.  Also Ken does have a canon partner in Yolie, if canon matters to you.  

Personal Ranking (3/10) Not enough one on one scenes to get a feel for their dynamic imo. 

Tai x Jun (Taijun) 

Pros: What do you mean Jun isn’t a main character? Yeah, I don’t care. She should have been given a bigger role in 02, but that’s a rant for another time. The appeal of Taijun is a pairing of the spares essentially. He’s Sora’s ex, and she’s Matt’s ex. (well sort of) But that leaves you with a tantalizing ‘let's pretend hook up to make our exes jealous only to fall in love for real’ plot.  There’s other routes you can go with obviously, but that one in particular makes the pairing more unique than other ships. 

Cons: Obviously if you don't like Jun as a character, then your not going to like this ship. She’s pretty decisive within fandom. 

Personal Ranking (7/10) - Yeah, I really, really like Jun y’all. Plus anything thing that sees her treated better than how Matt did in 02 is a win in my book. 

Tai x Catherine ( Taicat )

Pros: It’s cannon that Tai has a crush on her and her openly flirts with her. He also has an amusing rivalry with TK for her affections. It’s harmless cute fluff and interferes with the love triangle 

Cons: Catherine is a pretty bland character. She’s pretty and French and that’s all there is to remember of her. 

Personal Ranking (3/10) I suppose there’s a certain appeal to having a semi-cannon ship that is so barely explored that you could do anything you wanted with it and it wouldn’t be out of character, but beyond that I can’t see anything else to recommend it. 

Tai x Meiko (Meichi)

Pros: They have some cute moments together in Tri, though they are subtle. It does feel at times like the writers introduced her character as a means of resolving the Tai/Sora/Matt love triangle. Though they never follow through with that completely.  In terms of the dynamics Meiko is a complete woobie. A ‘moe’ is what I believe to be the term in Japanese. Shy, quite, cute, and in need of protection. So you get plenty of instances of Tai being the big hero and saving her. Tai himself is also much more subdued in Tri and therefore less impulsive and reckless, so he’s very considerate of Meiko’s emotional needs, much than he would have been had they met earlier. In a way she just shows off how much he has grown as a character. So basically lots of hurt/comfort angst going on. 

Cons: If you’re not a fan of Meiko, then you wouldn’t be a fan of this ship. She’s not as well developed as the rest of the cast due to only appearing in Tri, and she relies more heavily on her archetype to carry her interactions with the mains. So how much you’re predisposed to that archetype factors heavily in shipping her with anyone.      

Personal Ranking (5/10) I’m lukewarm to Meiko as a character. Her interactions with Tai can be cute, but she just doesn’t grab my interests the same as Jun does. 

Matt x Sora (Sorato)

I just realized that this very official screenshot from the fifth movie, has a poster advertising a band with the words ‘fucking night’ on it. This is suppose to be a kids show. Lol. Never change Japan. 

Pros: The ship is about as close to canon as you can get. They’re confirmed dating in season two and it’s movie, and there are hints that they wound up together in the epilogue.  Also there is a basis for the relationship given their interactions in the first season and Tri. They communicate well and trust each other. Sora comes to rely on Matt in ways she just doesn’t with Tai. He’s an outlet for her to let her guard down and share things, while she helps him come out of his shell sometimes. 

Cons: The writing for them in 02 wasn’t good. They got together with zero build up and it came across as very forced. Since then, both in the fifth movie and in Tri, the writers have been pushing a subtle love triangle between them and Tai. Leaving things more open ended to appease the fans who were angry over how Taiora ended.  Also, dynamic wise, they can be kind of boring on their own. Without Tai there, there’s no drama between them, and that can be a pro or a con depending on your tastes. 

Personal Ranking (6/10) It’s not a bad ship, but the writing in 02 lets it down and, I still prefer Taiora over all. 

Matt x Izzy (Yamashirou) 

Pros: It’s the ‘cool dude’ who tries way to hard to be edgy being paired with the nerd who sees through his bullshit, but they’re both level headed enough to work together if need be, and they do indeed work together as a team quite well. 

Cons: Izzy and Matt don't interact one on one often. Usually when they do, Izzy is sandwiched between Matt and Tai as they work on some problem or other. People who do even ship it, often just go all the way and make it an OT3 with Matt/Izzy/Tai. 

Personal Ranking (5/10) There’s a basis for something there if you want to explore it, but both characters have better options. 

Matt x Mimi (Mimato)

Pros: Well for one, it’s Mimi. She’s one of the few people who can get under Matt’s aloof exterior. It’s also a case of hyperactive girl paired with quite and closed off guy, if you like that dynamic. 

Cons: It has all the same cons as Michi. Mimi is absent in 02, she and Matt usually interact within a group setting, and there’s more popular pairings out there for both of them. So if you ship either one with someone else, you may not be inclined to ship this. 

Personal Ranking (7/10) I like Mimi, so I’ll always like this pairing to some degree, but it’s about the same level as Michi for me. 

Matt x Joe (Jyouato)

Pros: If Izzy is Tai’s foil, than Joe is Matt’s foil. They get a lot of one on one scenes and come to depend on one another more so than then they do with most of the group.  Plus it’s the geeky nerd paired with the cool kid. Joe isn’t confident but he holds a secret inner strength. While Matt appears calm on the surface but has a lot of issues underneath. So if you like ‘opposites attract’ then this could be for you. 

Cons: It’s a comedy duo, just like with Tai and Izzy. Though they do have their more serious moments and deeper conversations. Also Joe is pretty decisive in fandom. If you’re not a fan of his you’ll probably want to ship Matt with someone else. Or you can make the argument that Matt is too mean to Joe at times, though he always apologizes for it and tries not do it again. 

Personal Ranking (7/10) They’re two of my favorite characters in Digimon. While this isn’t my favorite ship for them, I’m all down for indulging myself every once in a while. 

Matt x Kari (Yamakari) 

Pros: The few people who ship this, do so because of the above scene where Matt has to protect her from Myotismon. Also if Taikeru exists, than it’s only fair if it’s counterpart does as well. You can do the same for this as you can do for that and either go a post season one ruote, or a one sided school girl crush. 

Cons: Outside of that one previously mentioned interaction, Matt and Kari get very little one on one screen time. Especially in 02 and Tri, where the age gap wouldn’t matter anymore. 

Personal Ranking (3/10) I rank this lower than Taikeru because there’s even less to go off of and I struggle to see how they’re supposed to work together. 

Matt x Davis (Yamasuke)

Pros: Same as with Taisuke, Matt is something of a mentor figure who grows to be a friend. And if you disliked Taisuke cause you found Davis and Tai to be too similar, then Matt has that shifting dynamic but with a different personality.  

Cons: It also has all the same cons as Taisuke tho. They don’t interact outside of 02, and there’s a bit of an age gap. So make of that what you will. 

Personal Ranking (4/10) I do genuinely like Davis and I think he gets along well with most people, but this feels too much like a watered down Taito to really care about it. 

Matt x Yolei (Yamayako) 

Pros: Yolei does mention in 02, that she helps out Matt and his band sometimes with their audio equipment. Therefore we know for sure that they hang out together as friends even when not on screen.  Dynamic wise, its a case of nerdy girl gets the cool guy. 

Cons: Near zero on screen interaction save for group scenes in 02, a small age gap,(tho smaller than most 02/Adventure ships), and its similarities to Mimato, is enough to put people off the ship. 

Personal Ranking (5/10) I like the ‘nerdy girl gets the cool guy’ trope, but beyond that there’s not much to them.

Matt x Cody (Imato) 

Pros: In fairness this about as plausible/implausible as Taiori, I guess. If you like a post series story about two hot dads hooking up or something, then this might appeal to you. Who knows. 

Cons: Unlike, Taiori, Cody and Matt don’t even have that coworker angle going for them. Matt’s a fucking astronaut! Which is stupid, but it is what it is. I can’t see any reason why they would wind up together outside of them being in the same social group. Cody is TK’s best friend, and he might hang out with Matt that way, but it’s a long shot. Also the age gap is right on the cut off, so that limits their relationship to only being post Tri. 

Parsonal Ranking (1/10) I don’t know why anyone would ship this, and I honestly don't think anybody does. If someone out there does, I’ll give it a look out of sheer curiosity but that’s it. 

Matt x Ken (Kenato)

Pros: It’s the two broody boys together. That’s it. They’re both sad and cute, with some anger issues that they’re both trying to work past. So on that point they can connect.  So basically soft hurt/comfort fics galore.  They also get a teamup episode in 02, so we see them interact one on one. 

Cons: They’re a bit too similar dynamic wise. If you don't like both of your characters in a ship to be moody and angst ridden then this might not work for you.  They also don’t interact much outside of their one team up episode, and like with Yamasuke there is an age gap. 

Parsonal Ranking (4/10) Count me in the ‘too much broodiness for me’ camp.

Matt x Jun (Junato)

Pros: It’s Jun. Also she clearly likes Matt in 02, and he seemingly likes her back their first episode together. They free up Tai and Sora to be together. Oh and if you like the hyperactive optimistic girl with broody cool guy, then this has you cover.  If you also a fan of the ‘assertive girl chases after her hopeless crush’ trope, like with Sonic/Amy, Kermit/Miss Piggy, or Bugs/Lola. This also covers that. 

Cons: If you don’t like that trope, or dislike Jun altogether then this of course isn’t going to appeal to you. There’s also the added problem of Matt suddenly acting like a douche to her for no reason after their first episode together. It’s like the writers set them up, but then when ‘oh shit!’ when they decided to go with Sorato at the last minute and had to work to shut this pairing down. It’s dumb, and makes both of the characters look bad. 

Personal Ranking (7/10) I like it more for what it could have been, rather than for what it became. 

Matt x Meiko (Meimato) 

Pros: I swear the Tri writers tried to throw in ship folder for Meiko with all of the OG cast. As if she was the potential solution to all of the love triangles in the show or something.  Just like with Meichi, this ship is all about the hero protecting the woobie.

Cons: Once again, if you like this ship it’s going to come down to how much you like Meiko as a character and the archetype she represents. 

Personal Ranking (5/10) Same score as Meichi for the same reasons. 

Now I have to start on a part 2 because Tumblr won’t let me upload any more photos... 

[impishnature]

Unexpected but not Unwanted

AO3 Fandom: Gravity Falls Rating: G Prompt: @hinatauryusen (why is this not tagging? Sorry!)

Summary: Ford struggles as Stan remembers. 

.

"I think that's enough scrap booking for now, Mabel."

Ford winced as two sets of eyes snapped to him as if he'd just told them all over again that their plans were useless and there was nothing they could do to bring their Grunkle back.

He hadn't meant it like that. He didn't want to put a stop to things, not when Stan was slowly on the mend but at the same time, he knew that pushing it wasn't the best option.

"Huh? But we're just getting to the good-" Mabel's disappointed expression vanished into concern as she tilted her head up to look at the man whose lap she was currently occupying, taking in the half glazed eyes and the index finger rubbing never ending circles into his temple. "Grunkle Stan! You promised you'd tell me if you started to get headaches again!"

Stan gave her a toothy grin, or at least tried to through the grimace of pain. The glaze to his eyes vanished as he came back into the room, gaze flickering to Ford almost disapprovingly before turning back to the kids. "Well, actually we had a deal I think. I don't remember promising anything. And you should know by now not to make deals with me." Before she could respond he scooped her up, tickling her mercilessly in an attempt to dissuade the conversation, her high pitch squeal of joy enough to bring a proper smile to his face. 

Considering the quick darting look that Dipper gave the pair and then Ford, however, the conversation was not over.

Ford stood awkwardly in the  doorway, not knowing quite what to do. The mention of a deal had turned his stomach and if it hadn't been for his brother's actions straight after, he might have panicked then and there- not the best thing to do whilst trying to keep everyone else calm and happy considering the circumstances they'd found themselves in.

If anyone had reason to panic it would be Stan, but he had done surprisingly well since remembering the kids. Almost like his mind remembered that he wanted to protect them more than he cared about himself.

Which as much as Ford commended him for... he still kind of hated it.

They just wanted to look after him.

Which might be why he was stood there so awkwardly. He didn't want Stan to look at him annoyed again, it reminded him of- well, before- but at the same time, his health came first no matter how much they all wanted him to remember everything as soon as possible. So, the fact that as much as his brother was obviously enjoying teasing Mabel, every loud, high noise was making his eye twitch and his smile waiver, convinced Ford deep down that pushing anymore today might spark a new memory but it would also put him in immense pain.

And he still wouldn't be allowing that. Regardless of how much it annoyed Stan.

He just hoped it wouldn't start an argument, because he really really couldn't be arguing with his brother, not now, not anymore.

They'd done too much of that to last a lifetime. He just wanted things to change now, go back to when they were kids and the world wasn't constantly ending or warping around them. When things had been simple and the thought of losing his brother had been as nonsensical as growing an extra head.

But they couldn't go back. 

And Stan was remembering.

He'd remembered him quickly enough, not long after the kids in fact. He'd remembered fighting to get him back, the similarities between their younger selves and the twins, perhaps because those memories were interlocked with the Summer that had meant so much to him. But then he'd started to remember... the harder things to acknowledge. The fights, the yelling, the distance. 

The first time Stan had flinched when he'd walked into a room too quickly had almost broken him. 

The way he watched him carefully sometimes when they were alone, as if waiting for the other shoe to drop, for him to begin yelling at him or fighting with him- it wounded him, hurt more than he ever thought it could. 

He wanted his brother back.

But he wasn't sure what that would mean for them at this point.

Would it mean going their separate ways? Would it mean this awkward distance spreading further and further?

Was it too big a bridge to rebuild?

He hoped not.

He wasn't sure he could lose him again.

"Grunkle Stan?"

Ford pulled out of his musings the same time Stan stopped tickling Mabel. "Yeah, kid?"

Dipper slipped off of the sofa, grabbing the scrapbook that had fallen to the floor and tucking it under his arm. "Grunkle Ford's right, we should stop for now."

Stan glanced over at him again like this was his fault. "Aww, come on, kid."

"Nope, you made a deal with us." Mabel prodded him in the cheek causing him to pretend to bite at her. "If you get a headache or you need a break then we'll sit and watch one of those movies you pretend you don't like, but secretly do."

"Hey now, I do not like them-"

"You recorded them, Grunkle Stan." Mabel's face was deadpan, as if she just wanted him to accept that he liked things that weren't conventional and that was OK.

Instead he scowled, a mock version of the one Ford recalled being aimed at him but a scowl nonetheless, as he crossed his arms. "Yeah, well, it's not like I remember recording them..."

Mabel patted his arm softly. If it was anyone else Ford might have found it condescending, as it was Mabel he had to bite his lip from laughing. "Whatever you say, Grunkle Stan." She turned to Dipper, winking. "So, you don't want Dipper and me to go get the sequel to the one we watched a few nights ago?"

Stan sniffed, making sure neither of them were looking before answering. "I didn't say that. And I mean, it's only because my head hurts too much for one of your loud cartoon movies."

"Excellent!" Mabel slipped from his lap to Dipper's side. "I'll go grab snacks! Dipper-"

"On it."

And like that they were gone, vanished into the ether as quickly as jumping through a portal.

Ford wasn't entirely sure where the pair got all their energy from.

"So..."

He jumped, glancing up at Stan watching him. "Sorry?" 

He wasn't sure why the word came out, and neither did Stan by the confused frown.

"F-for stopping the fun. It was just obvious that the pair were distracted by - the Gideon robot?" Ford really should have been listening in more than he had been. "And you seemed to be struggling with all the information."

"Oh." Stan rubbed the back of his head, wincing. "Yeah, it is a lot. But it's all my own memories, so surely it shouldn't be this hard, right? What's a little pain when it makes those two happy."

"Stan." Ford sighed, walking over to place a hand on his shoulder. "You had your memories forcibly removed. The fact that you're remembering at all is a miracle, so just, take it easy alright? We want you back, but we don't want you hurting yourself to do it."

Stan stared at the hand on his shoulder, a soft smile on his face that Ford couldn't quite read. "Yeah. Alright. Thanks, Sixer."

Ford's hand clenched ever so slightly and Stan winced.

"Sorry- Ford. Thanks, Ford."

"No." Ford squeezed his shoulder again. "Sixer's fine when it's coming from you."

The smile that he got in return was brighter than the sun, the kind of smile he remembered from caves at the beach and adventures through the sand.

The awkwardness fell again then, the silence between them strange and stilted as they waited for the kids to come back. "You- you need some painkillers?"

"Hmm?"

"For the headache."

Stan shook himself, seemingly coming back into the room again as Ford pulled his hand away. "Oh. Right. Nah, I'll be fine. I've had worse."

"Stan..."

"Alright, doesn't matter if I've had worse, I get it, I get it." Stan shook his hand at him in a flippant movement. "But nah, it's slowly getting better the more I don't try to remember things so I'm sure it'll be fine."

"If you're sure." Ford shuffled from foot to foot, wanting to help but not wanting to overstep. "Maybe some water at least-"

"I'm sure Mabel's making us all drinks."

"...Ah."

He guessed he wasn't really needed when it came down to it.

"Good. That's good." Ford deflated, looking over his shoulder. "I guess I'll just-"

"Where are you going?"

He froze, already half turning to vanish down into his lab, a prospect he wasn't really looking forward to but at the same time what seemed best. "Oh, I was just going to-" He gestured halfheartedly out of the room as Stan raised an eyebrow at him.

"Nu-uh. You got us into this mess of watching old period movies, so you're gonna sit here with us too." Stan tapped the seat beside him, face jokingly serious before it fell away into something more hesitant. "That is if you haven't got anything more important to do."

"No! Not at all." Ford turned back fully, shocked but inwardly delighted at the change.

Stan grinned. "Good. Because if you did have more important things to do, I'd be concerned about what they were. Think I've had enough of your doomsday devices to last me a lifetime." He stretched and groaned, holding his back like all of his aches and pains were Ford's doing.

Ford huffed out a laugh in response. "Quite. Believe me, I think I might have as well."

"Might have?" Stan looked at him, mock appalled. "OK, definitely get over here, where I can keep an eye on you."

Ford's laugh deepened as he shook his head. He took the few steps forward to fall into the seat beside Stan, though he kept himself near the edge, just in case the kids came back and reclaimed the spot or in case Stan wanted him to get anything or-

"What are you doing, Sixer? We're watching a movie, not having an interview."

And with that Ford felt himself get pulled back onto the seat, his brother's arm wrapped around his shoulders as if it was the most normal thing in the world. He could feel the moment he froze, the moment he worried that he'd pushed too far but Ford couldn't bring himself to even speak. Instead he relaxed wholeheartedly into the motion, let Stan's arm around him remind him that they were both safe and sound and the world wasn't ending any time soon.

It wasn't like they were kids again. This was something new, something warmer, something lighter. An affection that wasn't really allowed between them when they were young and their father wanted to make them into proper men. This was something altogether more vulnerable, more accepting- no awkwardness at all, just family being family.

It was entirely new.

And Ford would welcome every second that would be afforded to him.

"Oh, is Grunkle Ford watching the movie with us too?"

Ford flinched, sitting up as Mabel came back in, laden with supplies. "Uh, yes- if that's quite alright, of course."

"Of course!" Mabel beamed at him, patting his knee. "It just means that I need to grab more blankets-" She ignored Stan muttering under his breath that that wasn't possible. "-and we'll need to catch you up on the first movie in the series."

"R-right." 

"Don't worry, Sixer. Mabel's reenactments of the movies are better than the actual movies." 

"Liar."

Ford half tuned out the conversation, just happily watching the pair of them bicker jokingly back and forth. Every time Stan said 'Sixer' it was like another piece of his heart was being glued back into place. It shouldn't, it should remind him of Bill and him rummaging around in Stan's head, but it didn't, all it reminded him of was his brother, the person who always had his back.

And really that's what the nickname always should have reminded him of.

The preparations took longer than he had anticipated. There were pillows and blankets everywhere and a giant mound of snacks barely within reaching distance. The biggest surprise though had been once Mabel started her reenactment of the last film like she had been planning to perform it all along and Dipper had climbed up onto the sofa. Instead of curling up in Stan's lap like he had been doing whenever Mabel wasn't there, he sat himself dead centre between them, snuggling into the space where their arms met. 

Ford would be lying if it didn't make him feel incredibly fond in that moment.

Once Mabel was done, however, she pushed Dipper across, shocking Ford even more by jumping on his lap and settling against Dipper's side. She grinned up at him once before turning the movie on and piling the blankets on top and around the four of them, tugging his arm around her as it was another pillow she was adjusting and settling fully into her now instigated hug.

Ford stared down at her for a few moments, in awe of the peace it gave him. He felt warmer than he had in a very long time and he was sure it had nothing to do with the blankets that had been draped across him. It was more like his heart was lighter, he had never expected after everything to be allowed this level of family again. 

He turned to glance at Stan, jolting ever so slightly when he noticed that Stan was staring back with a thoughtful expression. 

It took a moment longer to realise he wasn't staring at him exactly but at the arm that Mabel had commandeered.

Before he could question the look, Stan dropped his arm from around his shoulders. Ford wouldn't admit how cold it suddenly felt. It was as if Stan had finally realised this wasn't right, not after everything. But then he continued to move and Ford lost track of what was going on. His own arm was tugged out from between the tangle of people, and just as Mabel had, Stan manoeuvred Ford's arm until it wrapped around him instead. When he was satisfied, he nodded, using his own arms to instead encase Dipper, who happily snuggled into the space without even looking around.

Stan's eyes darted once, twice, to Ford's face, gauging his reaction before huffing and shrugging when Ford simply stared.

"What? I haven't had a hug from you in years. Don't make it weird."

Ford wanted to say that wasn't true. He wanted to say he had hugged him, when he didn't remember anything, when everything had hurt and he'd wanted to hug him until he was himself again even though he knew that it would never happen.

But that hadn't really been Stan had it?

So he guessed Stan had a point. And he'd rather he remembered this hug than... that.

Ford tightened his arm around Stan's shoulder, pulling him in closer. 

"I guess it has been too long."

Stan grinned, eyes returning to the TV now that he was settled. Ford took a longer moment to go back to the film, his mind elsewhere.

It really had been too long.

But it never had to be again.

[subzerobts]

Thoughts on the Eighth Member of BTS

A/N: No pairings or warnings for this, except that it may throw you into a sudden 8th member fanfic spiral. When I tell you I was reading 8th member fanfic for the majority of my day, I mean like a good six hours. It wasn’t good.

Okay, so I feel like a lot of people have talked about an eighth member and it being a girl and stuff so I figure I should add some stuff to the ever growing cache of things about the eighth member.

This was like 2300 words and I have no regrets.

~So if there was I feel like she would be slightly younger than most of them and would have come in after their first few albums

~Maybe she was raised in New York with her immediate family being mostly Korean and hella feminist and she’d have older brothers and be super chill

~So like maybe the company would be worried about the lack of fast growing traction with the group and have a girl added in

~First things first: it would be awkward as heck for the guys to suddenly have a girl there and would make living situations even more difficult, with having to share rooms and such. So, they’d probs alternate who rooms with who and who gets the couch, especially for her rooming with a guy

~Not to mention if she catches them talking about some sort of issue with the sleeping situation and then being nervous about it

~Eventually, I feel like she’d kind of get tired of all of the tiptoeing around her and be like

~‘Guys! I don’t even care! Unless you guys have some sort of creepy thing you’re trying to avoid, just treat me like one of you guys’

~Things would chill out basically immediately. Like the next few days, the boys were super relaxed and that was a problem because they just started walking around in just underwear and she would be like:

👀😒 um ew?? Put a shirt on?

~They’d clean it up a lil bit and walk around in like boxers and t shirts, which was fine she had older brothers, she could deal with that

~She’d respectfully bow out of the choreographed hip thrusts and things of that nature at first, like maybe they’d thrust and she’d like make a gagging motion or something(only rarely because the company would be like no) at some point she’d get extremely comfortable with just doing the hip thrusts herself

~The company even found that during interactions with fans she got just as much, sometimes more, attention and screaming as the boys

~Eventually she’d get used to dressing androgynous, like the stylist unnies would put her in skirts and she’d get kinda pissed and the guys would all agree that she’d be better in just what they’re wearing(i.e. pants)

~(Also, just a quick side note, before they even realized what was happening, they’d be super protective. Like unwarranted protection.

~Especially during interviews and talk shows any heavily toxic feminine questions related to her would be met with complete headassery(is that a word?) Just any kind of bullshit the guys could come up with.

~Like it wouldn’t happen immediately, but like after a few interviews and them seeing how uncomfortable it made her to answer the weird questions(coming from female OR male interviewers) they’d kind of come up with an unspoken agreement to answer any and every sexist comment or question with an answer just as shitty)

~ Into specific dynamics now:

~I feel like she’d be evenly split to each other member’s interests because in the first few months, that’s how she bonded with them, busy finding somethings she had in common with each of them and building on it

[we’ll go youngest to oldest]

~She is close with all of the boys, but each get her undivided attention when the moment serves.

~ With Jungkook she’d notice his quiet side during the beginning and willingness to please. So she’d always assure him, in a not so obvious way, that he was accepted. Just quiet validation from her court to his.

~So she’d set up gaming nights with Jungkook when they didn’t have strict schedules or just sit around on their phones

~ The fandom would eventually come to know them as the meme lords of the group.

~Their inside jokes are way too many to count and don’t even come close to being forgotten.

~Can’t forget GCF cause she would be in every single one of them that she could. She’s endlessly supportive of the videos and wants to be in all of them, she even suggests music and things(sometimes before he’s even thinking of doing another one)

~She disapproves when he pushes himself too hard. When she knows it’s happening, she’ll involve on of the hyungs( probably Jin) or they’ll talk to a manager if things get super serious.

~That being said, if he doesn’t have the dance down, or they’re both struggling, she’s the first to volunteer to run the dance with him multiple times and is always the voice of reason.

~When he says ‘one more time’ she says ‘food first’ or like ‘how about a water chugging contest really quick?!’ (bc we all know his competitive nature) ‘Jin probably has some left overs in the fridge that we can reheat, late night snack time!’

~They definitely argue a bit about being the “Golden Maknae.” She’s a bit competitive in that aspect. Because they’re both so talented and she’s just a half of a year older than he is.

~For Taehyung, I feel like she’d grow to love art with him. His quiet adoration for things of beauty, conventional or not.

~(They have a joke,mostly his own that he refuses to let die, that she’s his favorite piece of artwork, eventually she retaliates with him being her favorite piece of artwork and it just sticks.)

~They’d be the classy duo, but with matching boxy smiles. Elegant and poised, their visuals are basically unmatched and during photo shoots, they’re always the ones finished way before the others.

~There are no bad sides for the classy duo. (I’m basically imagining model material for both of them, like just ethereal. Visual god and goddessssssss)

~Also his need to fall asleep holding something, I feel like she’d match that with just being okay with anything when she’s asleep or almost asleep(like she’d fall asleep in the car with the boys or something and be difficult to wake up, so they’d just carry her and she wouldn’t even stir)

~So Tae would lay beside her and they’d be chilling and eventually fall asleep and then later wake up holding onto each other.

~Both of them are shameless damn flirts. They’re attractive and they know it and they will absolutely use it to (not literally) kill ARMY

~Jimin is a bit harder to think about(idek why) but I feel like she’d be his buddy in quiet studying. Like he’d come find her if he wanted to do some reading, but not be alone and she’d be totally down( same with Joon but hold on)

~and either she’d read her own book or she’d do some sketching(mostly because she’d want to have her own unique thing that the others weren’t too interested in)

~Jimin would be her ideal model in these moments. She never gets tired of sketching any of the boys, but in those moments, Jimin is the least likely to change face or position and thus be the perfect study.

~she’d also ask him for homework help in the earlier days with like mathematics and he’d always be more than happy to help

~Jimin is a brat and I feel like when the two of them spend a bit too much time together, the rest of the group can only expect the worst.

~(Low key the Lil-Shit Duo™️)

~Joon is next and here’s where her position in the group comes in. Since she was raised in New York, she’d be fluent in both Korean and English and, as such, would help with the interviews and translating.

~It’s a huge load for Namjoon to carry and with her, being by his side and helping with rephrasing things to the boys during interviews really eases him.

~Along with that, he always makes sure that she knows how much he appreciates her after difficult interviews or just every good while he’s just endlessly doting and complimenting her and things. She always tells him that it’s unnecessary, but he never stops thanking her.

~So they’re like the Leader Duo™️ and are consistently doing damage control between the boys(almost like group therapy) or rephrasing the boys’ answers(in those moments where the boys give weird answers to questions in interviews)

~When not in the public eye, they are coming up with ways to better interact with ARMY or they’re expanding their horizons by reading and stuff.

~Her favorite thing with Joon is working on learning a new language or just English with Joon and making up little tongue twisters and sayings and debating proper ways to phrase things. Which brings us to:

~Being a part of the rapline. So Joon, Hobi, and Yoongi are her peeps. When she’s not entertaining the maknae line, she’s with the Hyung line.

~Hobi and her have a cute dynamic. He babies her a little bit and she’d be lying if she said she didn’t love it at least a little.

~they like coming up with dances together, even when they are supposed to be taking the day off, just goofing around and coming up with dances for little snippets of songs is fun

~they’re like the sunshines of the group. So he’s J-hope and she’s his ‘little hope’. How cute.

~She’s constantly encouraging his little quirks and things that he does(the sound effects and just being him) and being right there with him in being the lights of the group.

~I feel like her and Jungkook get the same bit of his attention. Like the cuddly bits of it

(and my heart skips for cuddly JungHope so like imagining the three of them being cozy and mellow together and just watching the rest of the group do whatever. Agh my heart)

~My boy Yoongles is next and let me tell you I’ve been excited as hell for this one.(trying real hard not to let bias love seep through)

~When moving to a more spacious apartment, they decided to give her her own room. (She’s grateful.)

~And so when she wants to tamp down the wildness in the apartment, get a moment's peace, she retreats to her room.

~While she’s endlessly supportive of all six of the others, encouraging their wild quirks, her room is the quietest. Her room has a ‘no noise’ rule.

~Yoongi shares a room with Jin still at this point and not that Jin is a bad roommate, or particularly noisy, it’s just that the maknae line patronizes him a lot. And Yoongi has very little patience for that.

~So her room is where they’ll often find him. She has a comfy couch that she took Yoongi with to pick it out(because it was basically for him.)

~Point is, she’s mellow when she wants and needs to be and Yoongi is drawn to that chill side of her.

~When the rest are wild and he wants mellowness, he seeks her out and when she wants to be a bit rowdy, she leaves and closes the door.

~He has a gigantic soft spot for her. Not even kidding.

~The boys will always pull her into the situation if they think Yoongi might get too angry or a prank goes south and does more harm than fun amusement.

~They mention that she was involved and she goes with it because she doesn’t want the boys in too much trouble and Yoongi won’t hurt her like he would the boys(not actually hurt but you know like “beat them up”) or scold her too harshly.

~As soon as he finds out she’s involved the anger either dissipates or he removes himself from the situation so as not to hurt anything(but you bet your ass she scolds the maknaes from time to time on Yoongi’s behalf)

~And he definitely helps with her mixtape which the fandom is waiting for. Basically, chomping at the bit. She gives Yoongi and Joon so much credit tbh

~They definitely nap together. Mostly because they’re up at ungodly hours during the night, either working on songs or just talking because that’s definitely a thing that happens.

~They have similar views of the world(I’m mostly thinking of Interlude: Shadow here) but being lonely while being famous is definitely a view they share and are drawn together from that. Despite all of their wants to be on the top of the world, they want to not be lonely.

~Along with her keeping up well with the rowdy bits of the group, she’s definitely introverted like Yoongi. She does what she has to to further the group, but she does get drained and just kind of shuts everyone out some times.

~This is where Jin comes in. (Not to be that cliché bitch who’s always like Jin’s the mom of the group omg) but in this case, he makes sure she’s eating and taking care of herself when she does this.

~They all have locks on their doors and she keeps hers locked a majority of the time, but Jin and Yoongi are the only people she absolutely trusts with coming in unannounced.

~Despite always laughing at his dad jokes and being totally supportive of that, he knows when to turn on being serious and not taking her bullshit about “being fine” if she’s not.

~He forces(more like needles annoyingly) her to eat even when she says she’s not hungry during those times

~Makes sure she’s taking care of herself like showering and brushing her teeth and things.

~During the earlier years when she mostly stayed with the boys, very little contact to her mother in New York, Jin absolutely made sure he had cramp medication on hand and feminine products stashed in spots around the house. Well hidden obvi so the boys wouldn’t just stumble across them, but still there. (She does these things on her own now, but she’ll never forget the thought he put into making sure she was cared for)

~She’s definitely requested a majority of the time on EatJin. ARMY just likes to make sure that she’s eating(just like all of them) and they want to see the two of them talk.

~All in all, the boys are her family and she wouldn’t trade them for the world.

[slythergirlimagines]

Why Slytherin Should Not Be Used To Classify Every Bad Person

A think Piece by Me

(Before I begin please don’t take this too seriously, it is merely a bit of light hearted fun on my part. It’s only a half-serious discussion;) If you aren’t interested in this post, no offense taken, but if you like to be sorted into Hogwarts houses please scroll to the end for info!)

Why Slytherin Should Not Be Used To Classify Every Bad Person- A Think Piece by Me

It’s not uncommon in the world of the Harry Potter fandom to see Slytherin hurled as an insult to various members of the community or celebrities when they are seen as bad people. While it’s true that many of the traits embodied by the Slytherin House can lend themselves to evil acts, it’s not quite as simple as that. Hagrid tells Harry “There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin.” However, this statement is disproven by the existence of Peter Pettigrew (Gryffindor), Gilderoy Lockhart (Ravenclaw), and Professor Quirell (Ravenclaw).

Many of you have heard this before. It’s been stated and restated in a million different ways. I know some of you not in the Slytherin House are rolling your eyes. And yes, this is not an important matter considering all that’s going on in the world. You’ll hear no arguments from me there. However, I enjoy writing and I need something to distract myself, and also I’m sick and tired of reading Slytherin as an insult to every bad person in the world.

That being said, if you don’t want to read because you find this silly, then scroll on. I get it. But if you do want a bit of a distraction in the form of a light hearted tumblr post, then please continue reading.

1. Villains of the Harry Potter Universe

Hagrid’s statement to Harry about Slytherin, wasn’t completely true. Hagrid would not have been wrong had he amended his statement and said “The majority of bad witches and wizards come from Slytherin.” That statement would have been 100% true- a majority of Harry Potter villains do come from Slytherin.

“So what’s the big deal then?” You ask. “Why can’t we just keep calling people we view as villains, Slytherin?”

Well for starters, not every villain in Harry Potter was a Slytherin. As I mentioned previously, Petter Pettigrew was a Gryffindor, and Lockhart and Quirrell were both Ravenclaws. Why does that matter? Because....

2. People are not one dimensional

Before we launch into that, let’s discuss sorting. Sorting is a way for assigning individuals with certain personality traits a “house” where they can share a community with other similar individuals. Gryffindors are said to value courage, bravery, and chivalry. Ravenclaws value intelligence, learning, and wit. Hufflepuff value hard work, patience, and loyalty. Slytherins value ambition, determination, and cunning.

“Yes, we know.” You say, “Get on with it.”

I bring up the House traits and sorting for a reason. Most criminal or villainous acts have motives. Motives, like ogres and onions, have layers. Let’s look at an example.

A man rides into battle, and because he is such a great warrior, he is able to slaughter a hundred of his enemies. Is this a villainous act?

Your answer would most likely depend on what side you’re on. To the man’s side, he is a hero and just in his action. To his enemies’ side he is a monster, a murderer. What house would we sort him into?

Maybe you’ll say that he’s a Gryffindor for his courage in battle. Perhaps you’ll consider if this was a strategic, intelligent move and you’ll classify him as a Ravenclaw. Maybe you’ll consider if this man rode into battle for his loyalty, or the ideals of justice that would make him a Hufflepuff. Or maybe you’ll consider him a Slytherin for his determination and cunning strategy to defeat his enemies.

Human beings have depth. All Gryffindors are not only brave, just as Slytherins are not only ambitious. All of these traits make up human personalities, and all people at some time or another have utilized these traits. Slytherins have been hardworking and loyal, Gryffindors have been smart, Hufflepuffs have been cunning, and Ravenclaws have been brave. People are not just one thing.

“Yes we know this too. Why is that relevant?”

Because....

3. You must consider the motives

Bad or villainous acts are definitely perspective based, but if we’re going to look at someone we’ve determined to be a villain, we must examine their motives. Arguably, yes, on the surface Slytherin House traits seem to lend themselves towards more villainous acts if you focus on the negative connotations of their valued traits. Someone who is power hungry would use cunning and ambition to climb to the top, but they would also be hard working, intelligent, and brave.

So yes, these are personality traits, but they aren’t motives. Why am I hammering this in? Let’s take a look at our non-Slytherin villains.

Peter Pettigrew is a Gryffindor coward. He does what he does because of this cowardice. But none of the houses value cowardice, and his own house is the antithesis of cowardice. So if Pettigrew is a coward, why is he in Gryffindor? You could argue that it’s because he values bravery the most. Perhaps because he never had it, he covets it more than anything, and places bravery on a pedestal. The truth of it is, it doesn’t matter what his house is. Pettigrew is a coward, which leads him to team up with the bad guy and commit crimes out of fear. He’s a villain not because of his house, but because of his crime. Because of his motives.

Lockhart is a Ravenclaw who takes other people’s knowledge and achievements for himself so he can have fame and fortune. He isn’t capable of doing these things himself mentally or physically, so he steals the work of others. He utilized his intelligence to get away with this crime, cunning to figure out plans, hard work to maintain his lies, and one could argue courage to do something so risky. Villain? Yes. Slytherin? No.

Quirrell is also a Ravenclaw. He hides himself behind an unthreatening facade to do his master’s evil bidding. It can be assumed that he shares Voldemort’s ideals and wants the power promised to him from his service. Again, you would find that he would have to utilize a multitude of various house traits to pull this off, but he’s still not a Slytherin.

See what I mean? Traits are the how. They are the reason something gets done. They are utilized to carry out an action. But motives are the reason why. Motives defy Hogwarts House classification, not only because they are so layered, but because......

4. Traits have no moral alignment

Ambition is not inherently good or bad. Neither is cunning. Determination is hardly ever classified as something negative. Ambition is an environmentalist saving the environment, a black politician climbing the ranks to bring change to their community, or women banding together to demand change. Cunning is figuring out the best way to distribute funds various organizations, deciding on the best strategy to implement free birth control, or solving the water crisis through vigorous strategy. Determination is fighting constantly for these changes, it’s grit, never giving up on what you know is right.

Any personality trait or ideal can become negative and can be abused. Intelligence can be used to keep a group of people in poverty. Bravery can be someone running into a crowd with a gun. Justice can be a murder. Villains do not think that their actions are wrong. They idealize them, thinking that killing someone of a different race is justice just because they could have harmed that person. Racists often believe they are just for hating people of a different race.

Traits are not good or bad, nor are they defining of a person. Our above mentioned villains often utilized traits that were not valued by their house to commit their acts, but that didn’t make them belong any less to the house they were sorted into.

Again.....

5. Defining an act as good or bad is more complicated than that

Evil is a hard thing to define in the world. There is so much that goes into determining if something is evil or if someone is bad. Motives, societal moral belief, and personal ideals are just a few concepts that shape what we determine to be good or bad. That’s not to say people don’t have set things they believe are evil. I have those too. However, it would be impossible to settle on a universal definition of an evil act that everyone agreed with.

As I stated earlier, perspective is a huge factor in determining the moral impact of an action. Our enemies think our acts evil, while our friends agree that our acts are good. These acts themselves defy Hogwarts House classification. It is the person’s personality and beliefs that should classify them in a house. Not just whether they are a villain or hero in our eyes.

So why is this whole argument relevant?

Because it’s annoying as a Slytherin to see every bad person sorted by people into your house. Yes it’s a stupid thing to be annoyed with, but for a lot of Harry Potter fans, a huge source of enjoyment comes from the community of your house. Being able to identify and bond with others over your shared house creates a sense of community. It also helps many people understand themselves, just as personality quizzes do. Sure it may be meaningless in the “real world,” but it helps you learn about yourself and have fun.

Yes there is no Hogwarts, and the houses don’t mean anything in real life. But they do in our community and fandom. It’s time for us to intellectually grow and start to discuss people and villains in terms of overarching personality. You won’t hear me arguing that a majority of them may come from Slytherin. However, it’s time for us to take back our house, and it’s time for Slytherins to be given respect.

We are not all evil, we are not all bad. Our valued traits can be used for as much good as any other house traits. Evil people and evil acts do not just have to be Slytherins by default. It’s 2020 and Slytherin is no longer a bad word. We are ambitious as hell, ferocious, and badass. But we are not villains.

Thank you for listening to my Slytherin-positive rants, I really needed to write something out today. Nobody take this too seriously, it’s just a think piece. I hope that you all are and continue to be well:)

On the sorting that I do: If you would like to be sorted, all you have to do is message me and say you’re interested. I don’t require any information other than “I want to be sorted.” I will send you a questionnaire, and you will message me back your answers. I really like to do in-depth sorting, so most of them will be long. I do people of all ages. I don’t post results of sorting, they are kept between us in private messages, so you can be brutally honest about your answers. However, if you’d like me to make a post, I will with an edited version that removes anything private. I love to do sorting and I hope to hear from you guys soon.

On the writing that I do: I also love to write. I will take fanfic requests, questions, and think piece topics. If you have any questions about which fandoms I write for check my bio for a short list, or just send me a message! Chances are I’ve probably watched or read whatever it is enough to write about it!

[saiilorstars]

The Beginning of Everything

Fandom: Doctor Who

Pairing: Female OC x 10th Doctor

(OC Face claim: Marjorie de Sousa)

// Story Masterlist //

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Ch. 8: Pompeii and Home

Chapter Summary: The Doctor and Renata take Donna to her first trip in the TARDIS to the past! Unfortunately, Pompeii brings up a lot of morality questions that leaves Donna wondering if the Doctor is really like she imagined. Plus, it gives Donna the opportunity to decide what kind of companion Renata is.

The Doctor pushed aside a tattered curtain to reveal a street full of market stalls with people, dressed in ancient clothing, walking in-between. "Ancient Rome," he happily introduced to Renata and Donna. "Well, not to them, obviously. To all intents and purposes right now... this is brand new Rome."

Donna was ecstatic of the sight. "Oh my God, it's... it's so Roman! This is fantastic!" she surprised the Doctor with a big hug. "I'm here... in Rome. Donna Noble in Rome." She pulled away and walked a bit ahead. "This is just weird. I mean, everyone here is dead."

Renata blinked. "I don't...think you should go telling them that. Humans get very upset when you mention their comically short lifespan-"

"-oh, but I should watch what I say around humans?" the Doctor was giving her a disapproving, yet completely amused, glance.

"Oh my God, Donna I am so sorry!" Renata realized how rude she'd been and wanted to apologize for it, but she saw that Donna hadn't even heard her comment. She was too entranced with the new environment.

"Hold on a minute," Donna suddenly frowned, "That sign over there is in English. Are you having me on?" she turned sideways, throwing accusing looks at the aliens. "Are we in Epcot?"

"No, no, no, no," the Doctor swore. "That's the TARDIS translation circuits. Just makes it look like English... speech as well. You're talking Latin right now."

Initially, Donna didn't believe it. "Seriously?"

"Yes," Renata was close to laughing.

Donna thought about it for a minute then laughed. "I just said 'seriously' in Latin. What if I said something in actual Latin? Like 'veni, vidi, vici'? My dad said that when he came back from football. If I said 'veni, vidi, vici' to that lot, what would it sound like?"

The Doctor tried to search for an honest answer but he wasn't able to find one and pouted. "I'm not sure - you have to think of difficult questions, don't you?"

Donna smirked, pointing at him. "I'm gonna try it."

"Doctor, stop her, it's not a good idea," Renata shook his arm a bit. "She could cause a fight! She could get hurt! She could-"

"Nah," the Doctor shrugged off her concerns. He was fairly interested in what would result from Donna's quest anyways. Renata frowned at how irresponsible that was but she wasn't remotely surprised by it.

"Hello, sweetheart." the stallholder that Donna approached greeted her kindly. "What can I get for you, my love?"

Donna pretended to look at the fruit in front of her before saying, "Veni, vidi, vici."

"Huh?" the Stallholder raised an eyebrow. "Sorry? Me no speak Celtic. No can do, missy."

"Yeah," Donna turned on her heels and walked back to the awaiting aliens. "What does he mean 'Celtic'?"

"Welsh," the Doctor replied. "You sound Welsh. There we are. That's something."

Renata shook his head at his casualness. "That could have gone completely wrong, you know!" she walked between him and Donna. "Donna could have said something offensive without knowing and then what would have happened? Being a woman-"

"Bit of a stickler, aren't we?" Donna nudged her on the side, smirking when Renata pursed her lips. It was clear as water that it wasn't the first time Renata heard something similar.

Because, in fact, she had heard it before…

"And don't you see, instead of making them all work so monotonously we could alternate them so that each gets a turn to do a different part!" a young Doctor finished explaining his new idea for Zuriah.

The young Time Lady stood just in front of him, with arms crossed, and pursed lips. "You have no authority to give me ideas. You're here to help me with the plans that already exist, remember?"

The Doctor, was at this point, accustomed to her common cold stances. "Zuriah, it's just a way to keep your co-workers upbeat and alive. You don't have to be such a stickler all the time!"

Zuriah's eyes widened, her arms dropping to her sides. "What was that? That word? It's Earth language I know it is. What's it mean?" because clearly he had such a negative connotation on it.

"That you don't know how to have fun!" the Doctor didn't hesitate to clarify. "In fact, you suck the fun out of everything!"

Zuriah breathed harder, doing her best - as she was always trained - to keep her anger from showing. But the Doctor smirking right at her didn't help at all. He enjoyed it.

"Something on your mind, dear Zuriah?" he leaned forwards, getting in her face.

Zuriah was close to smacking him - my God she needed to control herself. "You're...you're going to make me regenerate out of pure stress," she responded in a low mutter before she decided to work in another area. It was the only way she could keep herself in check.

The Doctor's smirk only widened after she left. He actually enjoyed getting that face she always made when she was close to exploding. He could tell a mile off that she was trained to remain that high class Time Lady society would regard her as after graduating. The way she scrunched her face and balled her fists were like fuel for his game. He loved it.

His smirk faded a little bit after thinking that. He loved it? He turned sideways and watched as Zuriah went around setting up for the activity they would be doing later.

Donna stopped by an intersection to look up at an interesting mountain. "I'm not an expert, but there are Seven Hills of Rome, aren't there? How come they only got one?"

The Doctor followed her gaze up to the one mountain in the distant and became pensive. He didn't have much time to do so when the ground under them shook like an earthquake.

"Here we go again!" they heard one of the vendors cry out to the others. Every vendor did what they could so their merchandise wouldn't be ruined.

"Wait a minute!" Donna gasped. "One mountain... with smoke... which makes this…"

"Pompeii," Renata breathed in nervously, and outright terrified. "Doctor-" she turned on him, "-we're in Pompeii... and it's Volcano Day!"

The Doctor was horrified in return, eyes stuck on that one mountain. Renata wasn't going to let him just stare like an idiot.

"We have to go! We can't stay here!" she moved around him and pulled on his arm to follow her. "Donna, c'mon!"

The three hurried back in the same direction they'd come in through. When they arrived at the place where the TARDIS was meant to be, they came to shocking sight of nothing.

"You're kidding," Renata sighed deeply, thinking that of course it would be something that would happen to them.

"Don't tell me the TARDIS is gone…" Donna put a hand on her forehead.

"Okay," the Doctor found it easy to comply.

"Where is it then?"

"You told us not to tell you."

Donna let her hand drop from her head, frowning at his sarcasm. "Don't get clever in Latin!"

"Stop arguing!" Renata turned around to the market stands. "Maybe one of them saw something."

"Good idea," the Doctor rushed up to the closest stand. "Um...excuse me! Excuse me! There was a box-big, blue box. Big, blue, wooden box...just over there. Where's it gone?"

"Sold it, didn't I?" the vendor smugly responded.

The Doctor's face was stunned. "But... it wasn't yours to sell."

"It was on my patch, wasn't it? I got 15 sesterce for it. Lovely jubbly."

"He did what now!?" Renata had heard the last bit and, outraged, stalked up beside the Doctor. "Why would you sell something that wasn't yours!? I'll have the authorities on you-" she was in the middle of pointing a sharpened nail at him when the Doctor pulled her away.

"Renée!" he held her back for a moment to get an important answer out of the vendor. "Who did you sell it to?"

"Old Caecilius," the vendor replied, beedy eyes on the feisty blonde still glaring at him. "Look... if you want to argue, why don't you take it up with him? He's on Foss Street. Big villa can't miss it."

"We can't argue with an innocent man who was conned!" Renata exclaimed, starting again with her scolds. "You had no right! I'm going to make sure you pay to the fullest extent-"

"Let's go!" the Doctor forcibly pulled her away from the stall.

"Let me go!" Renata fought against his arms while they started heading for Caecilius' place, Donna just beside the Doctor.

The Doctor was reluctant to let go thinking she might go back to the vendor and continue shouting at him. "You can't argue the way you are," he warned.

"I know!"

Slowly, he retracted his arms from her until she just pushed them away from her. With a huff, she straightened her blouse and looked back.

They split up thinking it was better to find the needed address quicker. When they got back together at an intersection, they found someone was not on the same page.

"Ha! I've got it! Foss Street, this way!" the Doctor nodded for a street they were to go in through.

"No, I've found this big sort of amphitheatre I think…" Donna revealed, slightly breathless from the running she had to do in order to find the place. "We can start there. We can get everyone together. Then maybe they've got a great, big bell or something we could ring…?" she looked around. "Have they invented bells yet?"

"I don't think a bell is useful in this situation," Renata made a face.

"We need it to warn everyone!" Donna exclaimed. "To start the evacuation! What time does Vesuvius erupt? When's it due?"

It was then that both aliens realized what Donna was trying to do. Both went deadly serious.

"It's 79 AD, 23 of August which makes Volcano Day tomorrow," the Doctor was the one to answer.

"Plenty of time. We can get everyone out easy!" Donna beamed.

"Yeah, Donna, but...we can't," Renata said, trying to gesture them it was time to keep moving.

Brief confusion flashed through Donna's face but it went away almost as quick as it had come. "But that's what you do," she looked at the Doctor. "You're the Doctor. You save people."

"But not this time," the Doctor continued with a gravely serious tone. "Pompeii is a fixed point in history. What happens happens. There is no stopping it."

Donna just didn't accept that. "Says who?"

"Says the race that was built around time," Renata answered rather sourly. "Hence Time Lord and Time Lady."

"Listen time lady," Donna threw the title like nothing, "Titles are nothing. Donna-" she pointed at herself, "-human, and I don't need your permission. I'll tell them myself."

"You stand in the marketplace and announce the end of the world, they'll just think you're a mad old soothsayer!" the Doctor reached over for her. "Now, come on. TARDIS, we are getting out of here."

But Donna yanked her hand from his. "Well, I just might have something to say about that, spaceman!"

"Oh, I bet you will!" the Doctor pointed the way in which they would be talking.

~ 0 ~

On their way into the villa, the ground began to shake again. The family inside had gone to their appointed places to keep their most valuables from falling to pieces. There was one bust, however, that would have completely shattered if the Doctor hadn't caught it in time.

"There you go," the Doctor handed the bust back to Caecilus himself who then put the bust on its podium.

"Thank you, kind sir. I'm afraid business is closed for the day. I'm expecting a visitor."

"Oh, that's me," the Doctor pointed at himself. From behind he could practically hear Renata rolling her eyes for lying again. The Doctor leaned to shake Caecilius' hand. "We're visitors. Hello."

"Who are you?"

"I am... Spartacus."

"Really?" came Renata's sour question. She stepped up beside the Doctor, glaring in annoyance.

This time, however, the Doctor would get back at her. "And so is she," he pointed at her.

Renata's mouth fell open.

"Mr and Mrs Spartacus?" Caecilius wondered.

Backfire. Backfire. Backfire. The Doctor quickly shook his head. "Oh no, we're not married."

"N-n-n-n-n-no!" Renata sputtered out, face as red as a tomato. "Never!"

Donna took notice of that and made a mental note to go back on that. "Cousins," she supplied for them all. "We're all cousins."

"Well, anyways, I'm sorry, but I'm not open for trade," Caecilius informed the trio.

"And that trade would be?" the Doctor inquired.

"Marble. Lucius Caecilius. Mining, polishing and design thereof. If you want marble, I'm your man."

"Is that like a motto?" Renata thought about. "Catchy."

"We're marble inspectors," the Doctor declared and took out the psychic paper to prove his words.

Caecilius' wife, Metella, gasped. "By the gods of commerce, an inspection." Not wasting a minute, she took the a cup of wine from her youngest son, Quintus. "I'm sorry, sir. I do apologize for my son." She hurried to drop the contents of the cup into the pool of the room.

"Oi!" Quintus clearly didn't agree with the norms expected of them.

"This is my good wife, Metella," Caecilius properly introduced. "I- I must confess, we're not prepared for a-"

"Nothing to worry about," the Doctor began to take a look around the room in hopes of finding his TARDIS. "I- I'm sure you've got nothing to hide. Although, frankly, that…" he felt relieved to find his box unharmed and unopened, "...object... rather looks like wood to me."

"Oh," Renata was also relieved to see the TARDIS and followed the Doctor after it.

"I told you to get rid of it!" Metella hissed at her husband, evidently on the fence of his newest purchase.

"I only bought it today," Caecilius briefly explained.

"Ah, well. Caveat emptor," the Doctor turned around.

"Oh, you're Celtic. There's lovely."

"I'm sure it's fine but I might have to take it off your hands for a proper inspection."

"Although," Donna cut in, rather suspiciously Renata noted, "while we're here, wouldn't you recommend a holiday, Spartacus?"

Renata sighed, shaking her head. The Doctor was not pleased to find Donna had yet to desist in her idea. "I don't know what you mean, Spartacus."

"Oh, this lovely family, mother and father and son... Don't you think they should get out of town?"

Caecilus stared at the ginger, confused. "Why should we do that?"

Renata rubbed her forehead. This was why she was always weary of humans. They thought they knew what was best when in reality they knew next to nothing! Donna had no intentions of harming but if she kept it up she would do more bad than the good she strove for. Honestly, sometimes, she had no idea what the Doctor saw in humans that had him so...fascinated with them.

"Well, the volcano for starters," Donna sarcastically said.

"What?" Caecilius had tried following but the last word stumped him.

"Volcano," Donna repeated for him.

"What-ano?"

"That great big volcano right on your doorstep?"

"Oh my God," Renata decided enough was enough. "Excuse us, really. We haven't even greeted the household gods yet." With a widened, fake smile, she turned away from the family and dragged both Donna and the Doctor with her to the small side room with the shrine. "Donna, you can't just go and do this! There are rules! Vesuvius is just a mountain to them. The top hasn't blown off yet."

The Doctor sprinkled water on the frieze of the Gods, completely agreeing with Renata. "The Romans haven't even got a word for volcano. Not until tomorrow."

Donna narrowed her eyes on the two. "Oh great. They can learn a new word... when they die!"

"Donna, stop it-"

"Listen, I don't know what sort of kids you've been flyin' around with in outer space, but you're not telling me to shut up. That boy…" Donna jerked a thumb in Quintus' direction, "...how old is he, sixteen? And tomorrow he burns to death."

"And that's our fault?" Renata scowled.

"Right now, yes!"

"Donna, you don't understand this, okay? It's not-"

A servant, Rhombus, entered the room to announce the newest visitor. "Announcing Lucius Petrus Dextrus, Chief Augur of the city government."

The trip turned in time to see an older man striding into the room, brokering brimming with confidence that borderline into smugness. "Lucius, my pleasure as always."

Metella ushered her son to be polite. "Quintus, stand up."

"A rare and great honor, sir, for you to come to my house," Caecilius happily went to greet Lucius, holding a hand out to shake but the man ignored it.

"The birds are flying north... and the wind is in the west."

Caecilius did not want to be rude and say he did not understand. "Right. Absolutely. That's good, is it?"

"Only the grain of wheat knows where it will grow," Lucius continued, a total smug look forming on his face.

"There now, Metella, have you ever heard such wisdom?" Caecilius turned to his wife.

"Never. It's an honor," Metella praised.

Renata almost rolled her eyes at the family. She knew the game all too well. When you're in the presence of noble families, you always have to feed their egos. It was such a boring game and a frustrating one, but Renata had been trained since she was small to do it.

"Pardon me, sir, I have guests," Caecilius motioned to the three travelers. "This is Spartacus, and, uh, Spartacus, and…"

"We'll be kind and stop you," Renata said out of pity for the man who was doing his best to keep it together.

"A name is but a cloud upon a summer wind," Lucius began with another round of knowledgeable words, but he had met his match with the Doctor.

"But the wind is felt most keenly in the dark," the Time Lord delivered within the next second.

"Ah! What is the dark other than an omen of the sun?"

"I concede that every sun must set…"

"Ha!" Lucius said all too quick.

"...and yet the son of the father must also rise," the Doctor finished rather proudly.

"Damn. Very clever, sir," Lucius conceded. "Evidently a man of learning."

"Oh yes, but don't mind me. Don't want to disturb the status quo," the Doctor waved it off and winced when Renata reminded that 'status quo' had not been introduced yet.

"We'll be off in a minute," Renata assured Caecilius and Lucius politely. She pointed the Doctor to the TARDIS and the man started leading the way.

"I'm not going," Donna hissed at them.

The Doctor turned around to face the ginger's angry look. "You've got to."

"Well I'm not!"

"Donna!" Renata sighed, frustrated that Donna was being so stubborn.

"And here it is…" Caecilius' voice drew them to the man who had just revealed some sort of squares piece of marble...bearing intricate, almost tech-like, designs. "Exactly as you specified. It pleases you, sir?" he anxiously awaited for Lucius' response.

"As the rain pleases the soil."

"D-Doctor, what are you-" Renata whispered frantically when the Doctor went back to the men. Did he not see they had to leave!?

"Oh now that's... different," the Doctor came by the marble piece, ready to get some investigating on. "Who designed that then?"

"My lord Lucius was very specific," Caecilius said, still proud of his work.

The Doctor only got more suspicious and glanced at Lucius. "Where'd you get the pattern?"

"On the rain and mist and wind."

Renata and Donna had also come back, although the latter was more glad than the former. "Well that looks like a circuit," Donna remarked.

"Made of stone…" the Doctor carefully passed a finger down the marble.

"Do you mean you just dreamt that up?" Renata suspiciously eyes Lucius, her mind already alerting that this was not possible.

"That is my job... as City Augur," Lucius declared smugly.

"What's that then, like the mayor?" Donna scrunched her nose in confusion.

"Oh, ah, you must excuse my friend. She's from... Barcelona," the Doctor excused lamely and took Donna aside to explain quietly. "This is an age of superstition... of official superstition. The augur is paid by the city to tell the future. "The wind will blow from the west." That's the equivalent of the 10:00 news."

A pale, young brunette woman, presumably the daughter of the family, Evelina, came into the room. Her stance was languid, and her face distant. "They're laughing at us," she pointed an accusing finger at the travelers. "Those three, they use words like tricksters. They're mocking us."

Renata panicked and looked at the girl, although momentarily surprised of Evelina's sickish appearance. "N-n-n-no, we meant no offence. Really!"

Metella rushed to her daughter in hopes of remedying Evelina's imprudence. "I'm sorry. My daughter's been consuming the vapors."

Quintus was horrified to see the state of his sister. "By the gods, Mother! What have you been doing to her?"

"Not now, Quintus," Caecilius shushed his son.

"But she's sick. Just look at her!"

Lucius stared at Evelina, unimpressed. "I gather I have a rival in this household. Another with the gift."

"Oh, she's been promised to the Sybiline Sisterhood," Metella proudly said. "They say she has remarkable visions."

"The prophecies of women are limited and dull," Lucius flatly said, still unimpressed. "Only the men folk have the capacity for true perception."

Renata's eyebrows raised and she almost gaped but quickly shut her mouth. Donna saw that and frowned at such passiveness. Well, she owned none of that. "I'll tell you where the wind's blowing right now, mate!" she warned Lucius. Soon after, the ground quaked.

"The mountain god marks your words. I'd be careful if I were you," Lucius motioned to their state.

"Consuming the vapors, you say?" the Doctor glanced at Evelina with a mild degree of concern. The girl really looked like she might pass out at any moment.

"They give me strength," the girl raised her head, evidently trying to make herself appear stronger than she actually was.

"It doesn't look like it to me."

"Is that your opinion... as a doctor?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Doctor," Evelina simply said. "That's your name."

The trio of travelers shared the same bewildered expressions.

"How did you know that?" the Doctor inquired.

"And you," Evelina's eyes flickered to Donna, "you call yourself noble. And your name-" she addressed Renata, "-is hidden behind another. Your rebirth will not be enough to hide."

"Now then Evelina, don't be rude," Metella gently pulled on Evelina's arm towards the hallways but Evelina pulled her arm and remained where she was.

"No, no, no. Let her talk," the Doctor was honestly curious of what else the girl would say. Renata, honestly, wished the girl would shut up before she said anything else about her.

"You three come from so far away," Evelina continued to say.

Lucius unceremoniously interjected. "A female soothsayer in inclined to invent all sorts of vagaries."

"Oh, not this time, Lucius. I reckon you've been out-soothsaid," the Doctor glanced back at the irritated man.

"Is that so... man from Gallifrey?" Lucius responded smugly, knowing that he was correct.

"What?" the Doctor stepped back, stunned of the correct vision.

"Strangest of images. Your home is lost in fire, is it not?"

"Doctor, what are they doing?" Donna inched closer to the aliens.

Lucius narrowed his eyes on her. "And you, daughter of... London."

Donna gasped. "How does he know that?"

"This is the gift of Pompeii. Every single oracle tells the truth."

"But that's impossible!"

"Doctor, she is returning," Lucius warned.

The Doctor suspiciously stared. "Who is? Who's she?"

But Lucius was not finished. "And you, Daughter of London... you have something on your back."

"Hey! Enough!" Renata shouted, but instigated visions of her next.

"You cannot hide forever. Your name will rise again through the galaxies, like a butterfly-"

"Stop it!" Renata yelled, horrified.

"But your names are false," Evelina continued the streak of visions, forcing both aliens to turn yet again. "Your real names are hidden. It burns in the stars of the cascade of Medusa herself. You are a lord, sir. And you are a lady. A lord and lady... of time…" She stopped to take a breath but fainted out of her fragile state.

"Evelina!" Metella exclaimed.

~0~

Evelina remained unconscious for the rest of the day. She was taken to her room where her mother would keep watch on her. When Renata and Donna walked into the room, Metella was lightly soothing one of Evelina's arms.

Feeling the women's presence, Metella tried to excuse her daughter's behavior from earlier. "She didn't mean to be rude. She's ever such a good girl. But when the gods speak through her…"

Renata lightly gasped when Metella unwrapped the cloth she had around Evelina's arm. Donna tried not to stare like she was horrified.

"What's wrong with her arm?" the ginger asked.

"An irritation of the skin. She never complains, bless her. We bathe it in olive oil every night," Metella sighed and left the cloth on the night stand. Renata began to study the 'irritation' and moved around the bed to get a closer look. "Evelina said you'd come from far away. Please, have you ever seen anything like it?"

"Not a doctor, but…" Renata mumbled and gently touched Evelina's arm, thinking she would have to go through various thinking stages to come up with a decent answer. When her fingers touched the irritated skin, however, she found it to be such an easy answer, and yet a very confusing one at that. "It's stone."

Donna had a face that said she couldn't believe it. Renata couldn't blame her.

"Scuse me," Renata mumbled again and headed out the room. This was not normal - it was Pompeii! Oh there was something going on and she had a hunch that the Doctor was already ahead.

She went in search of the Doctor to inform him of Evelina's situation but came up short when she saw the empty main room. She did see, however, that the hypocaust was missing its grill. "He definitely got started," she slowly walked up to the hypocaust but stopped midway when she heard her shoes crunching over something on the floor. Looking down, she saw various particles on the floor like they had burst through something. Her eyebrows knitted together as they looked from the floor to the hypocaust. Bending down, she picked one of the particles up and discovered it was a rock. Her mind wandered back to Evelina and her arm and deduced they were related. If Evelina was 'consuming' the vapors then she was consuming more things than she thought.

She dared to believe that the Doctor was still around and decided to give one last check up. When she found no such Time Lord, she groaned inwardly and headed back for Evelina's room. She would say that she was surprised that the Doctor had gone off God knew where without her...but that was a lie. It was so like the Doctor.

Coming into Evelina's room, Renata stopped short at the sight of Evelina - now awake - laughing as Donna posed in a new purple gown of the era. "What - how long was I gone!?" Renata took a double-take.

"Long!" Donna passed one drape of her gown over her shoulder. "Where did you go?"

"To get the Doctor, where else?" Renata sighed, passing a hand through her hair. "But of course, being who he is, he's gone."

"You've known him for a long time, then?" Donna curiously wondered and didn't fail to notice how alarmed Renata became.

"No, not at all! Anyways, what's going on here?" Renata turned to Evelina, missing Donna's sharp look on her. "Are you feeling better?" she asked Evelina.

"Yes, thank you," the girl nodded, smiling.

"And...I see you were playing dress up…?" Renata's gaze drifted to Donna's choice of attire.

Donna beamed. "We could get you into one, can't we?" she glanced at Evelina.

"What!?" Renata exclaimed.

"We can!" Evelina agreed happily, getting off her bed to go retrieve a second dress.

"N-n-n-n-n-no that's fine!" Renata tried stopping the girl but Donna overpowered her with a louder voice.

"Yes! Go get one!"

And despite Renata's constant protests, she was forced into a bright, red gown with golden hemlines. She huffed as Donna stepped back from her with a laugh, clearly loving her work.

"Having fun there, Donna?" Renata asked flatly, eyes slightly glowering.

"A bit, yeah," Donna nodded, unable to stop herself from laughing one more time. Renata's eyes narrowed completely this time. "Oh c'mon, live a little!" she playfully hit Renata's arm.

"A bit hard to do when we're in Pompeii, breaking all the rules established to keep this point stable."

Donna blinked rapidly, still partly amused by the blonde. "You take everything so...serious. You're nothing like the Doctor, I tell you," Renata sighed and turned away, hoping that Evelina would come back into the room at any moment. There it is again, thought Donna. There was such reluctance against the Doctor whenever she brought it up and she couldn't understand why. Why did Renata act like he was some big, delicate topic? There was nothing delicate about the Doctor….right?

Evelina finally returned to the room, making Renata's prayers worthwhile. "You look wonderful," she praised Renata's new appearance kindly.

"Thank you," Renata politely responded.

"Nice to see you laugh," Donna remarked at the girl. "What do you do in old Pompeii, then... girls your age? You got... mates? Do you go hangin' about 'round the shops? T.K. Maximus?"

Evelina walked over to her bed and took a seat at the edge. "I'm promised to the sisterhood for the rest of my life."

Renata suddenly empathize with the girl. "You get any choice in that?" her stark, soft voice surprised Donna. There was something in it that indicated Renata had gone through something similar.

"It's not my decision," Evelina said so casually, like it wasn't a problem. "I have the gift of sight. The sisters chose for me."

Renata shook her head, and Donna heard her mumble 'not my decision' under her breath. Renata couldn't remember how many times she had heard that famous line from her family.

If it was in regards to the Academy, it wasn't her decision.

If it was who she needed to befriend, it wasn't her decision.

If it was what elective subjects she was going to take, it wasn't her decision.

If it was downright to who she wanted to spend the rest of her life with...it wasn't her decision.

All her lives she had been told that many things weren't for her to decide on, but when she finally met someone who wanted her to choose for herself...she didn't. And that was probably what angered her more. She'd been trained all her life to follow the norms and rules that when the time came to make the most important decision of her life, she wasn't capable of doing it.

"What can you see happening tomorrow?" Donna's dangerous question pulled Renata to the present.

Evelina made nothing of it. "Is tomorrow special?"

"You tell me. What do you see?" Donna moved towards the bed, ignoring Renata's hisses for her to stay put.

Evelina followed the game without knowing. She covered her eyes, revealing a set of painted eyes on the backs of her hands. "The sun will rise. The sun will set. Nothing special at all." She dropped her hands on her laps and smiled.

"Look... don't tell the Doctor I said anything 'cause he'll kill me…" Donna began and Renata groaned from behind.

"Donna! You're not supposed to!"

"I have to try!" Donna snapped and settled with Evelina, ignoring the girl's confused face. "I've got a prophecy too!"

At those words, Evelina raised her hands to cover her eyes again, making Donna believe she was just trying not to listen.

"Evelina, I'm sorry, but you've got to hear me out. Evelina, can you hear me? Listen!"

"There is only one prophecy!"

"Donna, stop it!" Renata began to scold but there was no stopping Donna.

"But everything I'm about to say to you is true. I swear. Just listen to me. Tomorrow, that mountain is going to explode. The air is going to fill with ash and rocks... tons and tons of it and... this whole town is gonna get buried!"

"That's not true!" Evelina argued, still with her eyes covered.

"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry, but everyone's gonna die. Even if you don't believe me, just tell your family to get out of town... just for one day, just for tomorrow. But you've got to get out! Just leave Pompeii!"

"This is false prophecy!" Evelina declared, lowering her hands to reveal a glare underneath.

She breaks contact with the sisters.

"ENOUGH!" Renata couldn't see Donna making things worse but she wasn't going to wait and be proven wrong. She stalked over and grasped Donna by the arm. "We are leaving!"

"Oi! Oi! Oi!" Donna yanked her arm from Renata's grip midway down the hallway. "You are not my mother!"

"Well I might as well be!" Renata whirled around, furious beyond belief. "What you did in there was wrong!"

"Wrong?" Donna repeated, incredulous. "What? Saving these people is wrong now?"

"Unfortunately, yes! And not because I don't want to but because we can't. There are rules-"

"Oh to hell with your rules! Is that all you do? Remind the rules?"

"Yes!" Renata exclaimed, equally as frustrated as Donna. "It's who I am, actually. You'll have to get used to it."

"I can't get used to the idea of letting people die. The Doctor is supposed to save people-"

"He's not actually. That's just a job he gave himself but he doesn't have to do anything."

Donna took a breath and calmed, giving Renata a long stare. "You don't strike me as a woman who doesn't care. The Doctor wouldn't have brought you along if you didn't care about saving people."

Renata rubbed her face. "Donna, I understand what you're trying to do but...these rules I'm talking about? They're important and no one should mess with them. Not you. Not me. Not the Doctor. They're there so that people can continue to live through the years-"

"But these people-"

"-I wish could survive but they won't. And if you can't go by these important rules...maybe this isn't what you should be doing," Renata hated that she sounded so bluntly rude and cruel. There was just nothing to do. The best solution was to simply avoid places like these so that one wouldn't have to see it. It was forceful bliss.

~0~

After an eventful outing, the Doctor came running back to the villa...with the ground shaking more than ever.

"What is it? What's that noise?" Metella ran into the main room with Caecilius.

"Doesn't sound like Vesuvius," Caecilius looked around, lost.

"Caecilius! All of you, get out!" the Doctor urgently motioned.

Renata and Donna ran into the place, both surprised but Renata quickly solving the mystery. "Doctor, what did you do!?"

"I think we're being followed!" the Doctor ignored her question. Renata screamed, however, when the grille over the hypocaust was blown into the air. "Just get out!" the Doctor waved a hand for them to listen and follow. He moved over and started ushering out the people he could.

But...when the ground cracked and a loud growl filled the room...everyone stopped. A creature of mixed stone and magma pushed its way up the hypocaust.

"The gods are with us," Evelina breathed, horrified.

"Water!" the Doctor shouted to the rest. "We need water! Quintus, all of you, get water! Donna! Renata-"

"Yes, okay!" Renata hurried along with Donna and Quintus, along with a servant.

Another servant who remained, Rhombus, was entranced with the creature and stepped forwards. "Blessed are we to see the gods."

The creature, in return, breathed fire like a Dragon and burned the servant to ash. Before it could do the same to the others, the Doctor advanced next with his hands out in a nonthreatening manner. "Talk to me! That's all I want! Talk to me. Tell me who you are. Don't hurt these people!"

As the others began returning with water, Donna was captured by red-robed women. The dropped bucket splashed water and got on Renata's shoes. It made the blonde look up and see Donna being taken by strangers.

"Donna!" she dropped the bucket she was carrying and hurried to save Donna. Her attempt was futile as another robed woman grabbed her from behind and took her along.

Meanwhile, the Doctor continued brokering peace between them and the creature. "Talk to me. I'm the Doctor. Tell me who you are."

But the creature didn't listen and prepared to burn him to ashes as well. Quintus and a servant arrived in time with urns of water which they threw directly at the creature. It froze and crumbled into pieces.

"What was it?" Caecilius could only blink after the chaos stopped.

"Carapace of stone... held together by internal magma," the Doctor calmed and turned around, calming. "Not too difficult to stop. But I reckon that's just a foot soldier."

Metella shook her head, wearily looking on. "Doctor... or whatever your name is... you bring bad luck in this house."

The Doctor didn't care and clapped a hand on Quintus' shoulder. "I thought your son was brilliant. Aren't you going to thank him?"

Quintus stared at him in shock that he would actually say those words. Soon though, he had his mother hugging him.

"Still... guess there are aliens at work in Pompeii and it's a good thing we stayed," the Doctor remarked, and immediately could hear Renata's scolds of the rules again.

He froze.

There was no scolding.

Not even on why he had disappeared from the house for a while. "Renata?" he spun around in a circle to find the Time Lady but she wasn't there. And then he saw that Donna was missing too. "Donna!"

~0~

Renata was not happy.

Tied up to a sacrificial altar, she turned her head to the side where Donna was also lying. "See, this is why we follow the rules!"

Donna rolled her eyes. "You have got to be kidding me. We're about to be sacrificed and all you can think of are the bloody rules!?"

"You fed these women what they think is a false prophecy!" Renata exclaimed, juggling her hands tied above her in another futile attempt to break free. "Had you kept quiet like the Doctor and I told you, none of this would have happened!"

"You're such a mom!"

One of the red-robed women in the place, Spurrina, approached the altar with a dagger. "You will be silent!"

Donna still did not falter. "You might have eyes on the back of your hands but you'll have eyes in the back of your head by the time I finish with you! Let us... go!"

"This prattling will cease... forever," Spurrina raised the dagger to plunge it down on Donna.

"Oh, that'll be the day," the Doctor's voice stopped it all. He casually leaned against a pillar.

Spurrina turned fiercely, as did the rest of the sisters. "No man is allowed to enter the Temple of Sybil."

"Oh, that's all right, just us girls," the Doctor mocked a high-pitched voice and started for them. "Do you know, I met the Sibyl once. Hell of a woman. Blimey, she could dance a tarantella. Truth be told, I think she had a bit of a thing for me. I said it would never last. She said, 'I know'. Well, she would."

"If you're done telling your ridiculous story…" Renata's sharpened voice made him wince.

"You all right there?" he asked both women.

"Oh, never better," Donna sarcastically replied.

"I like the togas…" he pulled out his sonic and used it on the ropes to get them free.

"Quit your sarcasm and get us out of here," Renata scolded.

"Sorry, sorry," the Doctor hurried up and broke them both free.

"What magic is this?" Spurrina demanded, although partially awed with the sonic.

The Doctor just gave the sonic a little flip between his fingers and put it away. "Let me tell you about the Sibyl... the founder of this religion. She would be ashamed of you. All her wisdom and insight turned sour. Is that how you spread the word, eh? On the blade of a knife?"

"Yes... a knife that now welcomes you!" Spurrina once again threatened with the knife.

"Show me this man," a croaky voice stopped her. Automatically, all the sisters turned to face the curtain hiding a figure and knelt down.

"High Priestess, the stranger would defy us!" Spurrina argued.

"Let me see. This one is different. He carries starlight in his wake."

"Oh okay, but ignore my presence then," Renata couldn't help say.

"Calm down, you've only barely started travelling," the Doctor comforted her then stepped towards the curtain with her and Donna. "Ah, very perceptive. Where do these words of wisdom come from?"

"The gods whisper to me," the High Priestess answered.

"Oh, they've done far more than that. Ah, might I beg audience, look upon the High Priestess?"

The curtains shielding her parted and revealed the High Priestess sitting on her bed, her body nearly converted to stone.

Donna gaped. "Oh my God! What's happened to you?" Renata nudged her on the side for her outburst, although she was a bit on edge too.

"The heavens have blessed me," the High Priestess meant as an explanation.

The Doctor was the only one who kept it completely together. "If I might…" he motioned he wanted to step closer and received an approving raised arm. He walked up the small steps up to the woman and examined her stoned skin. "Does it hurt?"

"It is necessary."

"And who told you that?" Renata suspiciously inquired, preferring to stay where she was in case it was seemed disrespectful.

"The voices."

"It's the same condition on Evelina's arm," Renata's eyes trailed the woman's stone figure.

"Is this what's gonna happen to all of you?" Donna realized and turned to the other sisters.

Spurrina approached her with her sleeve pulled back of her arm which was also bearing bits of stone. "The blessings are manifold."

"They're stone," Renata still couldn't get over it. "At Caecilius' hypocaust-" she looked at the Doctor inquisitively, "-there was small bits of stone."

"Yeah," the Doctor confirmed and returned to her and Donna. "The people of Pompeii are turning to stone before the volcano erupts. But why?"

Renata sighed. "You just brought up the future word again - volcano?" the Doctor winced at the truth behind the words.

"This word…" the High Priestess called again, "...this image in your mind, this "volcano", what is that?"

"More to the point, why don't you know about it?" the Doctor asked, knowing that whatever was blocking the vision of the great volcano was probably not human. "Who are you?"

"High Priestess of the Sibyline."

"No, no, no, no. I'm talking to the creature inside you," the Doctor clarified himself. "The thing that's seeding itself into a human body, in the dust in the lungs... taking over the flesh and turning it into... what?"

"Your knowledge is impossible."

"Oh, but you can read my mind. You know it's not. I demand you tell me who you are!"

And so they did.

"We... are... awakening!" the High Priestess' voice suddenly echoed with others.

"The voice of the gods!" Spurrina made the mistake as did the rest of the sisters.

"Words of wisdom, words of power. Words of wisdom, words of power." they all chanted.

"By the Shadow Proclamation rules, they have to identify themselves if they're inhabiting another species' body," Renata whispered to the Doctor.

"My friend is right," the Doctor nodded. "So name yourself! Planet of origin, galactic coordinates, species designation according to the universal ratification of the Shadow Proclamation."

"We... are... rising!" the echoing voices repeated.

"We demand your name!" Renata stepped forwards. "Tell us your name this instant!"

The High Priestess pulled her hood down and revealed her stone-like face. "Pyrovile!"

"Pyrovile. Pyrovile," the sisters chanted behind, in the dark of what the name actually meant.

Donna stepped closer to her friends. "What's a Pyrovile?"

"Well, that's a Pyrovile... growing inside her," Renata explained, swallowing hard when she remembered the hypocaust incident. "She's at the halfway stage."

"Well, and that turns into?"

"That thing in the villa, that was an adult Pyrovile," the Doctor answered, missing her gaping reaction.

"And the breath of a Pyrovile will incinerate you, Doctor," the High Priestess declared.

"I warn you... I'm armed," the Doctor whipped out a pistol. "Renata, Donna, get that grille open."

Renata was stuck on the oddly colored pistol in his hand. "What are...?"

"Just…" the Doctor nodded for her to go. Renata shook her head and went along with Donna. "What are the Pyrovile doing here?" he then asked.

"We fell from the heavens. We fell so far and so fast we were rendered into dust."

"Right. Creatures of stone shatter on impact. When was that, seventeen years ago?"

"We have slept beneath for thousands of years."

The Doctor tried making sense of it all. "Okay, so seventeen years ago woke you up and now you're using human bodies to reconstitute yourself, but why the psychic powers?"

"We opened their minds and found such gifts."

"Yeah, okay, fine. You force yourself inside a human brain, use the latent psychic talent to bond. I get that. I get that. Yeah, but... seeing the future, that is way beyond psychic, you can see through time," the Doctor left it clear this was just impossible. "Where does the gift of prophecy come from?"

"Doctor!" called Renata. "We've got it!" she and Donna had pulled the grill off the nearest hypocaust

"Now get down!" the Doctor inched closer to them, still aiming his pistol at the High Priestess.

Donna did a double take at the hypocaust. "What, down there?"

"Yes, down there!" the Doctor shouted. Renata then began to help Donna get in. "Why can't this lot predict the volcano? Why is it being hidden?" that was the last thing he couldn't understand.

"Sisters, I see into his mind. The weapon is harmless," Spurrina gasped when she saw the truth.

"Yeah, but it's got a sting!" the Doctor promised right before shooting said water pistol at the High Priestess, causing her to moan as it stung her body. "Get down there!" he urgently said for Renata who'd remained above watching.

Startled, and frankly a bit scared, she dropped into the opening on the first call. Donna was already waiting for then in the hot cavern.

"You used a water pistol on her!?" Renata incredulously asked after the Doctor came through.

"It was that or a sonic!"

"Water pistol!?"

The Doctor's face scrunched up, his turn to be incredulous. "I'm sorry, are you disappointed!?"

Donna inwardly groaned. "Oi! Where are we going now?"

"Into the volcano," the Doctor nodded to the path ahead.

"No way…"

"Yes way," he twirled the pistol around his fingers.

"You are unbelievable," Renata declared, a hint of a smile drawing across her lips.

They wasted no time hurrying down the tunnels towards Vesuvius.

"But if it's aliens setting off the volcano, doesn't that make it all right? For you to stop it?" Donna had to ask after reviewing all the information the Doctor had gotten.

"Still part of history," the Doctor regretted to answer.

Donna huffed. "Well, I'm history too. You saved me in 2008. You saved us all. Why is that different?"

"It's the rules Donna," Renata said but Donna groaned, so fed up with that word.

"Some things are fixed, some things are in flux," the Doctor explained for the ginger. "Pompeii is fixed."

"How do you know which is which?"

The Doctor stopped walking for a moment, his face hardening. Renata shook her head, gritting her teeth together.

"Because that's what our kind does...did," her face softened. "It used to be seen as a gift...for us to be able to see how the universe turned, see what is, what was...what could be, what must not." She sighed. "At least, that's what my sister used to say." This time, the Doctor was the one to stare in surprise. This was the first time Renata spoke about her family. "She was part of the higher council and she was in charge of making sure the rules were kept in check, whether it was our regeneration cycles or time itself. That's why I'm a 'stickler' for rules," she lightly smiled at them both. "Everyone's...gone...but it's up to the Doctor and I to make sure time stays the way it should be."

Donna couldn't accept that no matter how 'proper' it sounded. "How many people died?" she went in another direction, once again forcing them to stop.

"Stop it!" the Doctor called.

"Doctor!" Donna shouted. "How many people died?"

The Doctor straightened, jaw clenching. "...twenty thousand."

Donna's eyes widened, and the incredulous expression etched itself across her face. "Is that what you can see, Doctor? All twenty thousand? And you think that's all right, do you?"

"Who said we thought it was right!?" Renata snapped.

But they heard the screech of a Pyrovile nearby. "They know we're here! Come on!" the Doctor hurried, and with no choice Donna followed.

They ran down the rest of the tunnels, actively avoiding pockets of flame. They entered a great cavern.

"It's the heart of Vesuvius," the Doctor said quietly as they watched Pyroviles freely walking about from a distance. "We're right inside the mountain."

"There's tons of 'em," Donna said, horrified.

Renata squinted her eyes as she caught something interesting below. "Doctor, what's that thing over there?" she pointed.

He followed her gaze and when he couldn't see it well, he pulled out a small, collapsible telescope. He saw the interior of a ship and realized it was the Pyroviles'. "That's how they arrived... or what's left of it. Escape pod? Prison ship? Gene bank?"

"But why do they need a volcano?" Donna continued to misunderstand, unknowingly that her friends were already putting pieces together. "Maybe... it erupts and they launch themselves back in space or something."

"No, it's worse that that…" Renata mumbled.

Donna had to disagree there. "How can it be worse?" But a Pyrovile roaring cut her off. "It's getting closer!"

"Heathens!" Lucius positioned himself at a higher cavern, looking directly down at the trio. "Defilers! They would desecrate your temple, my lord gods!"

"Come on!" the Doctor pulled Renata and Donna into a hasty run across the cavern floor.

When Renata saw where his direction was leading, she nearly stopped midway. "We can't go in there!"

"We can't go back!"

"Crush them! Burn them!" Lucius ordered the Pyroviles below. One of them rose right in front of the trio, menacingly.

"We're so done for…" Renata gulped at the gigantic monster. Fortunately, the Doctor disagreed.

He had used his water pistol again and successfully shooed the Pyrovile away enough for them to continue running.

"There is nowhere to run, Doctor…" Lucius began just as the Doctor stopped by the front of the pod.

"Now then, Lucius. My lord Pyrovillian... don't get yourselves in a lava," the Doctor so cleverly said, or so he thought. He noticed Renata's and Donna's blank faces. "In a lava... no?"

"No," Donna answered bluntly.

"No," he then agreed and looked up at Lucius again. "But if I might beg the wisdom of the gods before we perish... once this new race of creatures is complete... then what?"

"My masters will follow the example of Rome itself, an almighty empire, bestriding the whole of civilization," Lucius had no problem answering, believing they would he dead any second now as another Pyrovile made its way for them.

"But if you've crashed... and you've got all this technology, why don't you just go home?" Donna couldn't find a reasonable explanation for their stay in a primitive human civilization.

"The heaven of Pyrovillia is gone."

This caught Renata's attention as it wasn't the first time it had come up. "What do you mean 'gone'? Where's it gone?"

"It was taken. Pyrovillia is lost," Lucius gave no more recount on that, much to Renata's disappointment. "But there is heat enough in this world for our new species to rise."

"Yeah, I should warn you, it's 70% water out there," the Doctor swayed his head.

"Water can boil and everything will burn, Doctor!"

The Doctor put his water pistol away and with a straight face said, "Then the whole planet is at stake. Thank you, that's all I needed to know. Renée! Donna!" he pushed both women into the pod and quickly got in himself, making sure to lock them in with the sonic.

"Uuuuh…" Renata's mouth-open stare at the door didn't need words to explain what she was thinking.

"You just trapped us!" Donna went with the old fashion scold. She sighed when the Doctor gave no care for that. "Little bit hot."

"See, the energy converted takes the lava, uses the power to create a fusion matrix which wields Pyrovile to human," the Doctor began to babble what he'd learned, being it part of his thinking process. "Now it's complete, they can convert millions."

"Well, can you change it... with these controls?" Donna pointed to the panel of controls beside him.

"'Course I can, but don't you see?" the Doctor gestured with both hands. "That's why the soothsayers can't see the volcano. There is no volcano." Donna's eyebrows knitted together, confused yet slowly realizing what he meant. "Vesuvius is never going to erupt. The Pyrovile are stealing all its power. They're gonna use it to take over the world."

"But you can change it back," Donna said, though more for her assurance than for his.

"And by averting the system we make the volcano blow all the Pyrovile up…" Renata slowly said, her eyes shining with looking tears as she realized herself too.

"We destroy Pompeii."

"It's Pompeii or the world," the Doctor left it in simpler terms.

"Oh my God," Donna had never felt so sick then at that moment.

"If Pompeii is destroyed, then it's not just history, it's me," the Doctor straightened, forcing himself to accept the truth. "I make it happen."

"No," Renata shook her head, turning to the panel too, "We would."

"Ren…" the Doctor hesitated to let her in.

"What do you think my whole speech of us being left in charge of time was for? To sound pretty and smart? No," Renata said strongly. "You and I are the l-last…" she just couldn't say it out loud, "...there's no one left," she corrected, "...and so we are at a 50/50 democracy. I vote yes. That makes it 100%."

The Doctor put his hand over hers on the control panel, his face expressing all his gratitude for this.

Donna could not take seeing them so willing to accept this awful fate. "But the Pyrovile are made of rock. Maybe they can't be blown up."

With no other choice, the Doctor began averting the system. "Vesuvius explodes with the force of 24 nuclear bombs. Nothing can survive it." He stopped, his eyes flickering to Renata and Donna. "Certainly not us."

"Never mind us," Donna said the words Renata was thinking of.

The Doctor put his hands on the lever that was waiting to be pulled and activate Vesuvius. "Push this lever and it's all over. Twenty thousand people."

With shaky hands, Renata placed hers over his. "There is nothing we can do. It's our job."

The Doctor knew she was trying to make it a little better but it worked for neither. She was just as scared as he was, and just as guilty as him. Worst of all, neither was able to exert the force needed to pull the lever down. Donna saw their unwillingness and reached across, placing her hands over Renata's. They all exchanged looks, accepting this was what needed to happen.

And so, they pressed down.

It started off a cycle of events. They were blasted into the air inside the pod as the mountain began to spew out molten lava. The trio tumbled about inside until the pod came to a full stop. The Doctor, being nearest to the door, reached to open it.

"It was an escape pod!" he breathed, not able to believe he had this much luck. He reached into the pod to help Renata and Donna get out.

"Your luck is enviable!" Renata laughed.

The Doctor found a laugh too and took her hand and Donna's to get out of there. Their run had to be faster than the lava threatening to gobble them up. By the time they returned to the town, ash was already invading the town. It was hard getting through the people without falling down. While the Doctor and Renata did their best to get through, Donna stopped for a moment in hopes of saving at least some people.

"Don't! Don't go to the beach! Don't go to the beach, go to the hills!" she tried stopping some people but no one would. "Listen to me! Don't go to the beach, it's not safe! Listen to me...!" she gave up and turned, spotting a little boy on his own sobbing. "Come here!" she rushed to help him but a woman came over and snatched him away.

"Give him to me!"

Donna resigned and stood, crying with nothing else to do.

The Doctor came back for her eventually. "Come on!"

Together, they ran the rest of the way to Caecilius' villa where the TARDIS was (hopefully) still standing. Caecilius and his family were huddled at the corner of the main room when they arrived at the villa.

"Gods save us, Doctor!" Caecilius begged.

The Doctor stared at the family but his mind warned him this was not meant to be. Even Renata had faltered from her cold, logical view. She was, by default, a mother hen. But the Doctor pulled her for the TARDIS.

"You can't! Doctor, you can't!" Donna shouted, running after them. The Doctor was already preparing them to leave the place as fast as possible. "You can't just leave them!"

"Don't you think I've done enough? History's back in place and everyone dies," the Doctor snapped and sarcastically swayed his head.

"You've got to go back!" Donna was crying. "Doctor, I am telling you, take this thing back!"

But the Doctor released the brake and started to finally dematerialize. While he showed no emotion, Renata was biting her lip so as to not cry.

"It's not fair," Donna said as a last resort.

"No, it's not," both time lords agreed.

"But your own planet, it burned…"

Renata closed her eyes, stifling a sob.

The Doctor snapped his head up to meet Donna's accusing look. "That's just it. Don't you see, Donna? Can't you understand? If I could go back and save them then I would, but I can't. I can never go back! I can't! I just... can't!"

Donna could accept that, but she could not let everyone. "Just someone. Please," she went in another direction. "Not the whole town. Just save someone."

The Doctor paused, unsure of that request. He looked down at Renata who surprised him with a face full of tears.

"I think it's important that we do," Renata mumbled.

And so, succumbing to the one request, they returned to save one family from Vesuvius.

~0~

On the hills overlooking what was left of Pompeii stood Caecilius and his family, with the Doctor, Renata and Donna beside. The family was eternally grateful for the travelers' return but mortified to see what was left of their home.

"It is never forgotten, Caecilius. Oh time will pass, men will move on, and stories will fade, but one day... Pompeii will be found again…" the Doctor promised, "...in thousands of years... and everyone will remember you."

"What about you, Evelina?" Donna stepped around to where Evelina stood. "Can you see anything?"

Evelina shook her head. "The visions have gone."

Renata came up on Evelina's other side. "The explosion was so powerful, it cracked open a rift in time. Just for a second. That's what gave you the gift of prophecy. It echoed back into the Pyrovillian alternative. But not anymore…" she smiled softly, "You're free."

And for some reason, the Doctor and Donna detected that her words had a double, important meaning.

"But tell me... who are you, Doctor... with your words... and your temple containing such size within?" Metella couldn't help feel grateful yet overly terrified of this man.

"Oh, I was never here. Don't tell anyone," the Doctor warned.

"The great go Vulcan must be enraged. It's so volcanic. It's like some sort of…" Caecilius paused for the right word to come to mind, "...volcano. All those people…"

As the group of travelers slipped away, the family hugged each other.

~0~

When he didn't see Renata busy making her usual dinner, the Doctor honestly worried. If there was one thing he learned about Renata in the short time they traveled together it was that Renata needed some routine to function. It didn't matter if it was as small as having coffee in the morning or something bigger like dinner each night...she just needed something. The Doctor hadn't been one for routines that didn't involve spontaneous adventures, but he was truly committed to helping Renata keep her way of functioning. If Renata wasn't making her dinner it meant there was something troubling going on. He needed to find her.

Thankfully, the TARDIS had taken a liking to Renata and was much more amiable in helping the Doctor find her. After going down one corridor, the stopped after passing by the library and getting a glimpse of blonde. As he returned and walked into the room, he started to realize that the small noises he was hearing was in fact Renata's crying. He cautiously approached the couch she sat on, getting closer looks of a journal in her arms.

"Renée?"

She gasped, clearly startled, and slammed her journal shut. Quickly wiping her tears off her face, she pushed herself up. "I-I''ll get started on that dinner." She knew she'd spent too much time in there remembering everything and that the Doctor would eventually come looking for her. But she couldn't help it. Her little spills of her backstory were bringing up memories she didn't want. This time, it was more focused on her family.

"Hey, that's not what I came for," the Doctor went around the couch, showing he was only going to sit her down again. She was very protective over that journal in her hands and he wasn't about to give her reason to doubt him. "What's wrong?"

Renata bit her lip, uncertain if the smart move would be to leave or just to explain briefly what was going on. That was what her head said...her hearts on the other hand...were aching for some warm comfort.

"Renata?" the Doctor asked again. "Look, I know visiting Pompeii must have open up some things about...home…"

There was a flash of stupor on Renata's face. "You know?"

"Of course. Being the culprit it's...it's impossible," the Doctor breathed, sighing deeply afterwards.

Renata looked at him for a while. "H-how long...has it been...for you?" it was a question she had never thought of in the time she'd met him again.

The Doctor got to thinking for a moment. "Um...about...about a year and a half I think. You?"

Renata shook her head, bitterly smiling. "About 55 years now. Yet I'm more affected than you, go figure. Today, I thought more about my family than I would have liked. It crushes my hearts that I can't ever see them again."

The Doctor never felt more guilt than at that moment. He always felt guilty about destroying his home, but having a Time Lady in front of him, crying and missing the home he destroyed was...indescribable.

"Can I tell you something?" Renata whispered, her voice frail.

"Sure, anything."

Renata's fingers gripped her journal as a fierce determination took her over. "I would do anything to get Gallifrey back." The Doctor blinked, so stunned that he couldn't make up words for the first couple of seconds. "I know what I said back in 1914 but...living here with you...remembering our home...I miss it. I miss the skies, I miss my family - however dysfunctional we were they were mine - and I miss my job. I want it back. I want it all back."

The Doctor had never seen Renata so...livid about something, and much less about this. He felt a terrible ping in his chest as he considered the probability of Renata ever getting her wish. He had made sure of that, after all.

[broomballkraken]

Title: Excuses, Excuses, Chapter 2: Feverish Sickness

Fandom: Pokemon Sword/Shield

Pairing: Milo/Nessa

Word count: 3524

Warnings: None

Summary: Excuse #2: Nessa’s Feverish Sickness. As per tradition, a week before the opening ceremony of the Gym Challenge, all of the gym leaders travel to Motostoke to take the time to hang out and bond with each other, discuss serious Gym Leader matters, and even partaking in some friendly Pokemon battles. When Nessa wakes up with a fever on the third morning, she tries to hide it, but (un)fortunately for her, Milo catches on rather quickly.

The beginning of a new Gym Challenge was always something that Nessa looked forward to every year ever since she became a Gym Leader. It was exciting to see all of the eager new Challengers, ready to test their mettle as trainers and form lifelong bonds with the Pokemon that they caught and trained along the way.

Nessa was especially excited for the week before the opening ceremony. All of the Gym Leaders of Galar made the trek to Motostoke early to discuss important topics, such as any rule changes or resolving any issues that arose in the previous Challenge. That was necessary and all, but Nessa was glad when the serious stuff was dealt with so that the Gym Leaders could just hang out and have some fun together. And after two days of listening to Chairman Rose drone on about rules and regulations, she was ready to unwind with her friends.

It seemed that her body had other plans for her, however.

“Ugh.” Nessa groaned when she woke up in her hotel room, feeling like she hadn’t slept a wink. It was a chore to open her heavy eyelids, and she grimaced when she felt that her pajamas were drenched with sweat. She slowly pushed herself up and swung her legs over the side of the bed, groaning again with discomfort as she held her head in her hands. Her face felt hot, and yet a violent shiver coursed through her, followed by a wave of nausea.

“Why now?” Nessa grumbled, pushing herself to her feet as she stumbled to the bathroom, careful not to trip over her Drednaw, who was snoring loudly from his place on the floor. Maybe a nice, hot shower would make her feel better.

After a few minutes standing stock still under the water, Nessa found out very quickly that it was definitely not helping, and she barely made it to the toilet before she vomited. After a minute of retching, she managed to compose herself, but she did not feel any better. Nessa dragged herself out of the bathroom and slowly got dressed, taking deep breaths when she started feeling nauseous again.

Of all the bad times to be sick! Nessa usually had a great immune system, and rarely came down with any sort of ailment. This was the first time that she had been sick while traveling alone as well. She always had someone to help her through her sickness, whether it was her parents back home or Sonia when they had been traveling partners during their Gym Challenge days. She bit her lip as panic welled up inside of her; she did not know what to do about this.

“Hey, Ness! Are you awake?”

Nessa jolted with surprise when someone knocked loudly on her door. It sounded like...Milo? She took a deep breath and straightened up, hoping to give the impression that nothing was out of the ordinary as she crossed the room and opened the door.

“Good morning!” Milo said cheerfully, the bright smile on his face causing her to smile as well, as hard as it was with the way she was feeling.

“Morning.” Nessa said, gritting her teeth as her stomach churned. Milo stared at her for a moment, and the smile fell from his face.

“Are you feeling okay?” he asked, frowning as his eyebrows furrowed with concern. Nessa tried to laugh it off as she struggled to keep smiling.

“Aha, of course I am! You...must be imagining things.” she said, waving a hand nonchalantly. Suddenly, a surge of dizziness pulsed through Nessa’s head, and she felt her legs give out from under her.

“Nessa!” Strong hands latched onto her arms to keep her from falling to the floor, and she groaned as she slumped against Milo, her head coming to rest on his shoulder.

“Oh! You’re burning up!” Milo said after he had placed a large hand over Nessa’s forehead. She grumbled in response, too dizzy to form a proper sentence. Milo gently tugged Nessa’s arm over his shoulders and he helped her back into her room, heading straight for her bed and laying her down slowly. Her Drednaw had finally woken up, and he wandered over to the bed, staring up at his trainer as he let out a worried growl.

“I-I’ll be okay, Milo, really.” Nessa tried to argue, reaching down to pet her Drednaw’s head soothingly, “I’m sure it’s just a little-” Nessa’s stomach lurched, and luckily Milo had the quick reflexes to grab the nearby trash can and shove it into her lap so that she would vomit into it instead of all over the bed. She continued retching, feeling incredibly embarrassed for throwing up in front of Milo, but she felt a bit better about it when she felt a warm hand fall onto her back, rubbing gently until she stopped.

“Aw, Ness…” Milo said, taking the trash can from her and plucking a few tissues from the bedside table, using them to gently wipe her mouth. “You don’t have to act all tough about this. You’ll just make yourself sicker.”

“Sorry…” Nessa mumbled, feeling slightly guilty, “I don’t get sick often, especially not away from home…”

“Don’t worry!” Milo said, that bright, blinding smile returning to his face, “I’ll take care of you!”

“But Milo, you should go out and have fun with the others…”

“I can’t just leave you here when you’re sick! What kind of friend would I be then?” Milo said, shaking his head. Nessa felt her face heat up a bit, and she wasn’t sure if it was her fever flaring up, or something completely unrelated. Milo took the trash can into the bathroom to clean it out, and he waited there until she could change back into a pair of clean pajamas.

“There! Are you comfortable?” Milo asked after he had helped to tuck Nessa into bed. She nodded, yawning as a wave of exhaustion washed over her, and she smiled weakly when Milo helped her Drednaw climb onto the bed to settle down at her feet. She still felt guilty about all of this, but she did appreciate Milo’s willingness to help her out. He really was a kind and caring friend.

“I’ll stay here until you fall asleep, but I might go out for a bit. Don’t worry! I’ll be back to check on you, and I’ll have my phone on me if you need me before then!” Milo said as he took one of Nessa’s hands and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Squeezing his hand back, Nessa let her eyes slide shut as Milo began chatting quietly about random things, like the recent happenings on his parent’s Wooloo farm or the fun Gym Challenge he had come up with for this year’s challengers. His voice was oddly calming, and soon enough, Nessa found herself drifting off into a dreamless sleep.

*

Nessa did not know how long she had been asleep, but what she did know was that she did not feel any better when she woke up. Cringing with discomfort, she only managed to lift her eyelids up halfway before her head started to hurt. She squeezed her eyes shut and groaned, and she felt her Drednaw shift at her feet. Cracking open one eye, she saw that he was staring at her, and he let out a sad whine.

“Hey...it’s fine,” Nessa croaked out, her throat feeling scratchy and sore. Ugh, she felt even worse than before. She had forgotten how much she hated being sick. She sighed and tried to wriggle her arms - which felt like they had turned into lead - out from under the blankets; she was feeling overheated.

She continued her struggle, and was relieved when the door to her room opened. Milo was quickly at her side, his eyes scanning Nessa carefully.

“Hey, how are you feeling?” Milo asked. Nessa groaned in response, and Milo smiled softly as he pulled the blankets down enough to finally free her arms. “That bad, huh?”

“I feel worse than before.” Nessa said, sighing deeply, “The bright side is that I don’t think I’m gonna throw up again.”

“Oh, good!” Milo said, sitting on the edge of the bed as he rummaged around in the bag he had with him, “If you think you can handle it, I did bring you some soup. But only try it if you think you can keep it down. I don’t want to accidentally make you even sicker!” Milo looked distressed at the thought, and Nessa giggled softly and started to push herself into a sitting position, with Milo quickly moving to help her.

“I’ll try it.” Nessa said, and she moved to take the steaming bowl from him, but he pulled it out of reach.

“It might, uh, be safer if I feed it to you. You seem to be shaking a bit.” Milo said, his face flushing pink, “Er, I mean, if that’s okay with you! I don’t, uh, want to make you uncomfortable at all…” Nessa opened her mouth to protest, feeling embarrassed at just the thought of it, but as she thought about it more, she realized that he was right. Spilling hot soup on herself really would not make this situation better, and there wasn’t anyone else around. Only Milo would know about this, and he wasn’t the kind of person to blab about what she did in her weak, sickly state to anyone else.

“Ah, okay, but do not tell anyone about this. Ever.” Nessa warned, pouting as she narrowed her eyes. Milo smiled and nodded, sticking his pinky out towards her.

“Of course! Here, I’ll even make it a pinky promise.” Milo said, and Nessa laughed as she locked her pinky with his.

“Good.”

Milo dipped the spoon into the hot soup, blowing on it to cool it off before he held it up to Nessa’s lips. She thought that she would have hated being so helpless and treated like a child unable to feed herself, but she was weirdly okay with it. She took a careful sip of the soup, not wanting to burn herself, and when she decided that it was cool enough to eat, she ate the entire spoonful. She sighed as the delicious soup spread warmth through her as she swallowed it, and she managed to eat a few more spoonfuls before her stomach started giving her warning signs to stop.

“I’m glad you were able to eat a little bit of it!” Milo said as he helped Nessa settle back into her cocoon of blankets. Milo noticed that Drednaw was staring at the soup bowl, and he chuckled. “You want the rest, buddy?” The turtle Pokemon let out a pleasant growl as he dropped to the floor, and Milo set the bowl in front of him. Nessa smiled fondly at her partner as he happily lapped up the soup.

“It’s good, isn’t it?” Nessa cooed, giggling when Drednaw looked up at her, soup dripping from his chin as he chirped happily.

“Aw, you two really are cute!” Milo said, “Even off the battlefield, you two seem like the best of friends.”

“Oh yeah. Drednaw was my very first Pokemon, after all. We’ve been through a lot together.” Nessa said, and Drednaw beamed at her, before turning his attention back to the soup.

“I can tell!” Milo said, nodding his head. Nessa suddenly let out a deep yawn, and Milo pulled out his phone.

“Ah! It’s getting late. You should probably get some sleep.”

“What time is it?”

“9pm.”

Nessa groaned. Did she really sleep for the entire day. Ugh, and she didn’t even feel any better. What rotten luck.

“But…” Milo mumbled, rubbing at his neck as a dusting of pink appeared on his cheeks. “I’m...kinda worried about leaving you alone all night.” Nessa’s eyes widened as her face paled. She had never been alone for an entire night while sick before. The thought did make her rather nervous.

“Um, Milo…” Nessa said, averting her gaze as she blushed. “Will...will you, ah, stay here with me...tonight?” By Arceus, this was embarrassing. Milo was going to think she was a giant weirdo.

Milo smiled softly, his green eyes filled with a patient understanding. “Yeah! I can do that for you, Nessa. Um, just let me go get my stuff. Here!” He pulled out a pokeball and opened it, an Eldegoss popping out and settling softly on the edge of the bed.

“You and Drednaw keep an eye on Nessa until I get back, okay?” Milo said, petting Eldegoss’s head. The grass type chirped in response, turning to look at Nessa with a smile on his face.

“I’ll be right back!” Milo said, and he quickly left the room. Nessa smiled softly, turning her attention to Eldegoss, who blinked at her and tilted his head curiously.

“Your trainer really is a great guy, you know?” Nessa said, reaching out with a shaky hand to gently pet the fluffy cotton of Eldegoss’s head. He squeaked happily, and hummed with approval as she continued to pet him. The cotton was so soft, and Nessa found herself wondering if Milo’s fluffy hair was just as soft. She continued running her fingers over Eldegoss, her eyelids becoming heavier and heavier as time passed.

“I’m back!” Milo announced when he stepped back into Nessa’s room. Nessa smiled as he walked over to the bed, depositing the blankets and pillows he had with him on the floor. “Do you need help getting ready for bed?” Nessa nodded, and after Milo helped her to the bathroom to brush her teeth, he settled her back down into bed, and her eyes immediately closed.

“Hey, Milo?” she whispered, cracking open her eyes slightly to meet his, “Thank you so much, for everything. I don’t think I’ve ever met someone as sweet as you.” He sputtered and she giggled as her eyes shut again.

“Aw, shucks, Ness. You’re pretty great yourself. Sleep well.” he said, and Nessa reached out, her arms still shaking with the effort, and she slipped her hand into his. He squeezed her hand softly and used his free hand to gently rub the back of hers. It was a soothing touch, and soon Nessa slipped off to sleep with a content look on her face.

Milo watched as Nessa fell asleep with a fond smile on his face. He stayed still for a moment, just watching as her entire body relaxed and her breathing evened out. He gently slipped his hand out of hers and tucked her arm back under the blankets. He glanced back at her face, and he reached over to brush away a few strands of that pretty dark blue hair that had fallen over her forehead.

“Beautiful…” Milo mumbled. He blinked a few times before he realized what he had said, and his face flushed a bright red. He turned to see that both Drednaw and Eldegoss were staring at him, and he frantically waved his hands in front of him.

“D-Don’t tell her I said that!” he whispered, rubbing his neck as he looked away. Drednaw narrowed his eyes and huffed, settling down to sleep at Nessa’s feet. Eldegoss let out a quiet, high pitched chirp, and Milo pouted when he realized that he was laughing at him.

“Milo…”

Milo froze when he heard his name, and turned to see Nessa, thankfully still fast asleep, but his heart leapt into his throat at the absolutely breathtaking smile that was on her face. Milo was stunned for a moment, but he composed himself and stood up, heading to the bathroom to get himself ready for bed. When he returned, his Eldegoss had made himself comfortable on Drednaw’s back, and Milo was surprised that the turtle Pokemon allowed that. Eldegoss looked at him and chirped out a laugh again, and Milo just waved a hand at him before settling onto the pile of blankets on the floor.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up.” Milo said, and he chuckled when Eldegoss smiled at him and closed his eyes, his snoring soon joining Drednaw’s. Milo finally settled into bed, and was quick to drift off to sleep, the beautiful smile of a certain water-type Gym Leader filling his dreams.

*

Nessa sighed as she woke up, letting out a deep yawn as she stretched out her long limbs. A wave of relief washed through her as she realized that she was no longer sore or nauseous or unnaturally sweaty. It seemed that her sickness had finally passed.

She got out of bed slowly to make sure that standing up wouldn’t trigger any sickness that might still be hiding within her. Everything felt normal, and she smiled brightly as she stretched out, glancing at Drednaw and Eldegoss, who were still sleeping together on the bed.

“Milo?” Nessa wondered aloud. She looked down at the side of the bed where he had slept, and found that all the blankets and pillows he had used were folded and stacked neatly next to the bedside table. Milo was nowhere to be found. But, his Eldegoss was still here, so he probably hadn’t gone far.

Nessa took the time to finally take a much needed shower and freshen up. When she was all dressed for the day, she heard a knock on the door, and Milo walked in shorty after.

“Ness! Good morning!” Milo said, beaming as he quickly walked over to her. “You’re looking so much better!”

“Yeah, I feel so much better.” Nessa said, tilting her head curiously when Milo held a bottle out to her.

“Here! Kabu gave me this to give to you. It’s a Sitrus Berry Smoothie. He said it should help keep you sickness from coming back.”

“Thanks.” Nessa said as she took the bottle and opened it, taking a small sip. She hummed in approval at the delicious flavor.

“You feeling up for hanging out with the others today? They’ve already gone to get breakfast, but we can probably still make it in time to eat with them if we hurry.” Milo said as he walked over to the bed and returned Eldegoss to its pokeball. Nessa did the same for Drednaw, and when she had gathered her things, they left the room and Nessa locked the door.

“Ah, I really do feel so much better.” Nessa said, smiling down at Milo as they started walking down the hall. “Thanks again for taking care of me, Milo.”

“You’re welcome! I’m glad I could help. You just looked so sad and miserable yesterday. I just had to do something.”

“Well, I’m glad you did.” When they stopped to wait for the elevator, Nessa wrapped her arms around Milo and pulled him into a hug. Milo froze with surprise, but he recovered quickly and returned the hug, his strong, warm arms making Nessa feel oddly safe and secure.

As they hugged, Nessa’s cheek brushed against Milo’s hair. ‘Huh, it really is as soft as his Eldegoss…’ Nessa thought, and a giggle escaped her before she could stop it.

“What’s so funny?” Milo asked, pulling away as he tilted his head and gave Nessa a quizzical look. She felt her face heat up as she turned away and cleared her throat.

“Uh, it’s nothing…”

“Are you sure you’re feeling better? Your face is all red.”

“I’m good!” Nessa quickly said, laughing sheepishly as she rubbed at the back of her neck. “Ah, hey, here’s the elevator! We really should get going to meet everyone for breakfast. You said we were already running late.”

“Oh yeah! Let’s go! I know everyone will be happy to see you!” Milo said, grinning as he held his arm out towards her after they had stepped into the elevator. “If you’re still feeling a bit dizzy, you can hang onto my arm for a while if you want.” Nessa wanted to tell him that she was fine, but her body seemed to move of its own accord as she placed her hand in the crook of his arm.

“Thanks.”

“Anytime! Oh! We’ll have to get another selfie with everyone today! I told Raihan that we should wait until you could join us, but he insisted on taking one yesterday.”

“Let me guess: He said that he was looking exceptionally hot and needed to capture the look right then and there?”

“Ha! Yeah, pretty much.”

Nessa and Milo laughed as they headed to breakfast, chatting about anything and everything along the way. Nessa felt exceptionally happy, and she was sure that it had everything to do with the passing of her sickness, and absolutely nothing to do with the wonderful man whose arm she held because of the dizziness that she was not experiencing.

[naruhearts]

OKAY SO I've just spent the best part of an hour scrolling through your blog and reading a bunch of your destiel meta and I HAD to message you... I was one of the many people who STRONGLY believed destiel had a chance of being canon after season 8 (more like season gr8 am i right), but throughout the years I slowly lost all hope. However, S14 has made me 110% invested in the show again and YOUR META IS GIVING ME HOPE FOR DESTIEL, which is TERRIFYING. Your writing is wonderful and I'm STRESSED.

Got back from Washington late last night!

Oh my gosh @alovelikecas, your message really made my day and I’m SO glad you enjoy my meta xox (even when most of my meta looks like, to me, sloppy-ass writing, haha! I’ll probably make an end-season meta post after 14x20 — if I have the time — that touches upon SPN’s current and repeating themes since Season New Beginnings S12/Dabb Era, not to mention I have, like, some more unfinished meta in my drafts >.>)

Yeah I mean, I didn’t join Destiel land until Summer 2016, and before that, I was late to the Season 11 party, so I basically had no narrative context for anything, and I’ll copy-paste what I said here: 

Looking back, one significant thing I recall? S11 gave me a sense of Destiel’s true narrative validity (as not a ‘fanon’ ship but organically developed in the canon) when I perceived it as a season that was ‘missing something’. Keep in mind I had no idea about Destiel yet while watching S11 at the time.

I was literally asking myself — repeatedly — why Dean/Amara seemed to contain odd narrative holes, considering A. Dean explicitly said that the non-consensual attraction he felt for Amara was NOT love and “it scares him”, B. Amara told Dean that ‘something stops you - keeps you from having it all’, C. Djinn!Amara stated that she can: ‘feel the love [Dean] feels, except it’s cloaked in shame,’ and D. Mildred’s iconic ‘You’re pining for someone’ —> which did not logically correlate with A and C, meaning: since Dean doesn’t freely love Amara and thus isn’t possibly pining for her — with female love interests as currently non-existent (I remember crossing off the dead/gone girls on a piece of paper lol) — who the hell was he pining for, then?

Originally posted by elizabethrobertajones

Obviously, without writing long-ass paragraphs of meta about it again in this post, S11 made sense as soon as I watched it within the Destiel context (especially after I read up on some grandiose pieces of Destiel meta (@charlie-minion was the very first person who inspired me to write meta; I followed her once I joined the fandom <3)). CAS was the missing piece. Free/Chosen Love vs Coerced/Forced Love. I pretty much choked. I was like Oh my god, here we go, holy crap this subtext – I’m invested in this godforsaken ship because they’re in love with each other and I’m not getting off any time soon. The rest is history.

I’m aware that I do come off as positive (and I’m still Destiel-positive; whatever happens in 14x20 this week may or may not change that), but I hope you don’t mind if I use your lovely ask as an additional opportunity to clarify my meta standpoint: no one’s saying Destiel WILL become text. 

The general Destiel meta community (all subfactions: Destiel-positive, -negative, -neutral, and in-between) is not the Most Holy Canon Word, and we aren’t SPN writers, and again, we can’t actually speak to the veracity of Destiel as guaranteed-gonna-go-textual, but we — a diverse pool of critical thinkers from all walks of life: particularly those who have some degree of experience in literary academia/English literature studies (fun fact: I was actually pursuing a Minor’s in English until I changed my mind - my first love’s Health Science/Biology, which I stuck with, but here I am doing lit-crit analysis on the side *wink*) — can speak to the veracity of Destiel as a real, palpable, and ever-substantial long-running romance narrative aka the love story between Dean and Cas IS THERE. I see it. We all see it. We didn’t pluck it out of the random ether one day. It naturally evolved across the show’s overarching narrative like some vast spiderweb, linked together by numerous character arc amalgamations of Dean Winchester and Castiel as separate individuals who were then brought together — who brought themselves together, by the sheer force of free will and choice — and are now inherent parts of the other’s story (and respective character progression).

I say this too many times to count: the entire point of writing meta? Personally, it enables me to appreciate the literary gorgeousness of Dean and Cas’ relationship as, first and foremost, a tentative alliance offset by the very moment Cas raised Dean from perdition (it’s a poetic beginning). Their alliance then inevitably proliferated into a rocky — at times, necessarily turbulent — friendship, then a deep profound bond…one that crossed platonic boundaries since S7/8 and is, ultimately, indelibly rooted in romance. Together, Dean and Cas build up each other’s strengths, complement each other’s flaws, and narratively motivate the other to self-introspect — to become the best version of themselves that they were always meant to be: self-actualized entities who let go of their painful, horrifying, psychologically/emotionally destitute pasts.

These above reasons and more are why I think Destiel belongs right up there on the shelf of Ye Olde Classics, similar to epics by John Milton, Shakespearian tragic dramas, Homeric characteristic cruxes, and the great Odyssey journey: a legendary journey, fraught with circumstance, that finally ended with Odysseus (now an enlightened man) returning to Penelope, the love of his life.

Channeling the scope of Homer’s Odyssey, Destiel is an incredible storytelling feat of obstacles, both internal and external, romance tropes, mirroring, foreshadowing, and visual cadence/emotion, enhancing SPN’s already character-driven main plot in that Dean and Cas try to make it back to one another; like Penelope, their love holds true despite everything. If Destiel were an M/F couple, we all know their love story would be absolutely undeniable to the GA.

I do understand the bitterness S14’s fostered in some viewers, though. I do understand that Dean and Cas seem distant (and yeah, it’s a noticeable difference compared to S12/S13), but I believe the Destiel subtext is still heavy and holds steady.

Right now, at this point, there remains multiple personal issues for the characters to solve, you know? Dean and Cas aren’t talking properly; their love languages stay mistranslated, although we’re persistently shown that they still understand each other on a certain level that no one else can, and the visual narrative keeps framing them as on-the-nose solid counterparts: a domestic-spousal romantic unit independent of Sam.

Originally posted by incatastrophicmind

They want to be there for the other. They need to quash the final remnants of their respective internal loathing (Dean’s self-worthiness, Cas’ self-expendability) before they’re able to give the other 100% of their time, efforts, attention, and love (as flawed and complicated but compellingly beautiful as it can possibly be). During the times Dean and Cas do try to talk shit out, extraneous issues continue to get between them.

As other friends/meta pals discussed with me, S14 is like S10 in that it’s confusing the cast/audiences. And exactly: S8, besides S11/S12/early S13, also belongs in the close-to-canon serious Destiel narrative transition! I can discuss the showrunning/writer problem of SBL (Singer + Bucklemming; @occamshipper hits the nail on the head) that tugs subtext – especially subtext linked to Destiel – back and forth, sometimes in the weirdest nonsensical ways, but I won’t go too far into it here. I agree, however, with the recent idea that Jensen does seem a bit confused as to where he should bring Dean emotionally this season (don’t get me wrong, I do NOT believe Dean is OOC; OOC is a completely different concept vs expected character behaviour). And if Dean’s consistently romance-coded past interactions with Cas are any indication, Jensen would also — in the same vein as all of us — want Dean and Cas to start getting their shit together. Long-running fictional characters like Dean and Cas, conceived over 10 years, are so well-written to the point where you, the author, can predict what they’ll do even if you just plop both of them inside a room and give them no direction, and I personally feel that nowadays Jensen is prevented from achieving Dean’s further internal growth/unsure how to act in the moment because of some dumb SBL scripts saying one thing while his character’s heart says another. Wank aside—

Season 15 should hopefully convey a much more logical subtextual perspective e.g. unbelievably amazingly cohesive Season Destiel 11 that aired after choppy S10. Not all hope is lost!! I also want to clarify that I personally LOVED Season 14 in general. It’s been mostly Emotion-centric constant, with Yockey, Berens, Perez, and Dabb usually making my top-rank SPN writer list.

Currently the narrative’s still allowing pretty significant (imho) wiggle room for the lovers to fracture apart and get back together, where their miscommunication comes to a dramatic head. We just saw Dean and Cas argue over Jack’s well-being in 14x18 and 19. Dean — besides putting Cas at the top of his You’re-Dead-to-Me-Because-You-Lied-but-I-Still-Love-You-Goddammit hitlist (for clear spousal-coded reasons) and taking Cas’ actions to heart (he’s the person he trusted the most who lied to him) — no doubt blamed himself for what happened, and Sam was, like I said, the mouthpiece of truth. TFW were all culpable. They all failed Jack in some way, shape, or form.

I’m not expecting anything for 14x20, but I’m nervous either way! Thanks for sticking with my long answer <3