Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
okay pulling together some of my loadbearing descendants headcanons, which are, unless explicitly stated otherwise, canon to my fics. i've scattered these throughout various discord conversations and dms, but i want them all in one place.
aromantic ben/mal. this is non-negotiable. the reason they could continue on after the terrible love potion start is that neither of them wants romance. they build a qpr based around wanting to make auradon better.
all of hook's kids have different moms. Harry's mom is Maleficent. harry and mal are half siblings. mal is aware of this. harry is not. it probably doesn't really come out in canon or in aus where i allow the og trilogy to happen as in canon. in my og trilogy rewrite, mal reveals it during the as yet unpublished d2 fic.
hook was maleficent's rebound after she and hades broke up; she had harry, then got back with hades, married him, and had mal.
harriet's mom is uliana. cj's mom is... idk. one of the tremaines maybe? and i have no idea about hazel's mom yet
chad is adopted and thus not in line for the throne, but if something happens to his parents, he is regent until chloe is of age
this one is less actual headcanon and more crack, but uliana and morgie from d4 are anita and roger radcliffe from 101 dalmations. they're not canonical villains from disney movies, so they weren't sent to the isle. (again. sham marriage with qpr/aro/friends for tax purposes).
and then i will be putting my full name headcanons under the cut; i do have a full spreadsheet with ages, names, parents, significant others, and etc that i can share, but i'll start with this.
Descendants 1 characters, alphabetically by canon name
Audrey: Audrey Rosales, daughter of Aurora and Philip
Ben: Benjamin de Beaumont, son of Belle and Adam
Carlose: Carlos de Ville, son of Cruella de Ville and unknown man
Chad: Charles "Chad" Charming, son of Ella Charming nee Tremaine and Christopher Charming
Doug: Doug Miner, "son" of Dopey (legally he's dopey's son, but the dwarf family structure doesn't really map to human sensibilities)
Evie: Geneveive "Evie" Everhart, daughter of Queen Grimhilde (Evil Queen) and the Huntsman
Jane: Jane Doe, "daughter" of Fairy Godmother (again, legally. fairy family structure doesn't map)
Jay: Jabr "Jay" al Sahir, son of Jafar and unknown woman. (NOTE: i am not super familiar with Arabic names; i've done some research, but if i've royally fucked something up, please let me know)
Lonnie: Li Lanxing, daughter of Li Shang and Hua Mulan. 蓝 (lán) - blue / indigo plant | 星 (xīng) - star. the lan is pronounced the same as mulan's "lan," but is a different character. mulan's "lan" is the lan for orchid.
Mal: Melete, daughter of Maleficent, aka Mal. (fairy rules). her father is still Hades, but she does not advertise that, just as in canon.
introduced in Descendants 2, alphabetically by canon name
Gil: Gil le Gume, son of Gaston and unknown woman
Harry: Harry Hook, son of Captain James Hook and Maleficent
Uma: Uma, daughter of Ursula (fairy rules)
introduced in Descendants 3, alphabetically by canon name
Celia: Felicity "Celia" Facilier, daughter of Dr. Facilier and (as yet unnamed) wife
Dizzy: Daisy Tremaine, daughter of Drusilla Tremaine and unknown man
Squeaky: Silas "Squeaky" Smee, son of Mr. Smee and (as yet unnamed) wife
Squirmy: Simon "Squirmy" Smee, son of Mr. Smee and (as yet unnamed) wife
Introduced in Descendants 4: Rise of Red, in alphabetical order by canon name
Chloe: Chloe Charming, daughter of Ella Charming nee Tremaine and Christopher Charming
Red: Scarlett "Red" Corazon, Princess of Hearts, daughter of Bridget Corazon, Queen of Hearts and (NAME), King of Hearts
Introduced in Descendants 5: Wicked Wonderland, in alphabetical order by canon name
Felix: Felix Facilier, son of Dr. Facilier and (as yet unnamed) wife. (he is variably celia's twin or transmasc celia, depending on my mood)
Hazel: Hazel Hook, daughter of Captain James Hook and unknown woman
Louis: Louis Madrigal, son of Louisa Madrigal and someone else. ngl i legitimately forget he exists sometimes so i don't have many thoughts on him. i apologize louis stans; i need to rewatch the movie again to care about him again.
Max: Max Hatter, son of Maddox Hatter and a Wonderlandian citizen (not sure yet; haven't reread Alice in Wonderland recently enough to know who)
Pink: Rose "Pink" Corazon, daughter of Bridget Corazon, Queen of Hearts, and the King of Hearts
the characters from the novels or wicked world can be assumed to exist as well, but i have not read or seen them, so i don't really write them; i may reference them, however.
and the last character i may include or reference, though she will likely not appear much, is an oc.
Anna-Theresa "Tessa" Tremaine-Baker, daughter of Anastasia Tremaine and Francis Baker (the cinderella 2 baker). she was ~4 when the Isle was formed and the barrier went up, and she grew up in Auradon with her father while her mother was on the Isle. she doesn't meet any of her siblings until after the Isle comes down.
okay some things i am thinking about re: descendants worldbuilding, especially in this new timeline.
these are all things that have come up as i work on my d5 post-canon fic
spoilers for d5.
is wonderland part of auradon now or is it still a separate country? if it is a separate country, what is the extradition treaty? why is maddox sent to auradon's prison island instead of put up in one of wonderland's prisons? if it is part of auradon now, how does the system work? is it a narnia system with high king and regular kings? is this an empire? are we working under emperor/king/prince rules but calling everyone king?
*what* is auradonian cps like. does it even exist? i don't think it exists tbh. can we get some human/sentients rights activists in here? i'd like a child and family services advocate on call please.
what is the geography. we have irl china (mulan), irl colombia (encanto), irl england (101 dalmations), and also sherwood forest, various other magic forests, and literal wonderland. *how* does this work.
please note that i have only seen the movies. i have not seen wicked world, nor have i read the novels or any comics. if the geography is explained anywhere, please let me know. however, i do not believe the political system is explained (SIXTEEN YEAR OLD HIGH KING WHEN THE PREVIOUS KING IS CLEARLY STILL IN GOOD HEALTH! WHAT THE FUCK!) nor the lack of cps (KIDS! IN! THE! PENAL! COLONY!)
okay now that it's not past my bedtime, i've done some brief skimming of the wiki page on the US DCFS/CPS. now, obviously the US is not the only country with dcfs; however, auradon is pretty clearly modelled after the US (literally it's the United States of Auradon).
in the US, the precursors to dcfs started in the 1800s with humane societies and developed over the course of 150 years to what it is today as a government funded agency with legal rights and responsibilities. given the *wack* timeline of the descendants world, i can cut them a little bit of slack for not being at the same robust (if underfunded) state we are in real life.
HOWEVER! i do believe that with the amount of technology and interconnectedness auradon clearly has, that they have no excuse for having literally nothing.
thus, i am introducing everyone to Anna-Theresa (Tessa) Tremaine-Baker, oldest daughter of Anastasia Tremaine-Baker and her Baker from Cinderella 2. She was born before the Isle was formed and got to stay with her father the baker. She's a sentients rights activist with a focus on abolishing the Isle and on child safety and protection in auradon and the isle.
(she's also pro-abolishing the monarchy, but that's a future goal)
1- if your oc could pick anywhere in their world to live where would that be
2- name a positive trait of theirs and a downside to it
3- how does your oc feel about their given name
4- what is your oc bravest moment
5- what's your oc birth order in their family and how has that affected them growing up
6- is there an experience(s) that your oc feels like they missed out on
7- name one special and one mundane thing about your oc
8- are they insecure and to what extent and in what way does their insecurity manifest
9- what is something your oc have too much of and something they have too little of
10- did they at any point of their life believe that they are destined for something bigger or were they always satisfied in their situation
11- what's a memory that your oc recall vividly that others in their life don't seem to remember as well
12- what does your oc default to in order to distract themselves
13- how important is hygiene and tidiness are in your oc's life
14- how closely does your oc observe others and try to assign meaning to their words and actions
15- how much pride does your oc take in what they do
16- what is a negative trait your oc inherited from their primary care taker(s) and are they aware of it
17- do your oc like their own company
18- is your oc invested in the fate of their species or their kind or race
19- what are the three worst days of your oc entire life
20- a custom/tradition in your oc culture that they dislike or disagree with
21- how much do your oc surveil themselves and monitor their own thoughts and emotions
22- is your oc more likely to question aspects of their reality or more likely to accept things as they are
23- how important is comfort to your oc and to what extent do they seek it
24- what does your oc think happens after they die
25- what is something that is not necessarily true that your oc believe in
26- what or who is your oc protective of the most
27- how would your oc define beauty
28- does your oc usually take the lead in their lives and are the ones to initiate or do they mostly stay in place and react
29- if your oc were to disappear suddenly how would that affect others in their life and who would be the most affected
30- what is your oc naturally drawn to or what comes naturally to them
31- how does your oc express their emotions or vent in a nonverbal way
32- how important is freedom to them
33- what is one thing about your oc that others would find hard to believe
34- what do they feel their added value to their world and community is
35- a part/side of your oc that is hard to deal with
36- talk about a time your oc acted in a way that doesn't align with who they are
37- do they have any difficulties when it comes to intimacy
38- what's something your oc come to accept as a fact of life that can't be changed and can only be dealt with
39- what's something your oc believed would go on forever but did not
40- what is a repeated pattern in their life and do they recognize it or try to break it
41- what is the one thing that your oc can never see themselves be or do
42- do they have an extreme personality in other words are they usually at opposite ends of the spectrum or towards the middle
43- how much psychological pressure can your oc withstand before they have a nervous collapse
44- what is the most effort they put into anything in their life
45- what is something that they deserve but would never give to themselves
46- how does your oc generally react to hurting someone they care about
47- name an example of something your oc earned in their life and something that was given to them
48- what is a part of your oc that they feel reluctance to share with others including their loved ones and what effect does that have on their relationship
49- what do they believe is the right way to resist or object to things they disagree with and do they follow through with that
50- what emotions do they find easy to express and which ones do they find difficult to show
51- if your oc could give up one fortune/privilege in their life for another what would it be
52- who does your oc owe the most in their life and why is that
53- how big of a life does your oc lead
54- what is something they believed they would not survive but did anyway
55- how much harm can your oc take from others before they put an end to it
56- what is something your oc romanticize or glamorize
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
okay some things i am thinking about re: descendants worldbuilding, especially in this new timeline.
these are all things that have come up as i work on my d5 post-canon fic
spoilers for d5.
is wonderland part of auradon now or is it still a separate country? if it is a separate country, what is the extradition treaty? why is maddox sent to auradon's prison island instead of put up in one of wonderland's prisons? if it is part of auradon now, how does the system work? is it a narnia system with high king and regular kings? is this an empire? are we working under emperor/king/prince rules but calling everyone king?
*what* is auradonian cps like. does it even exist? i don't think it exists tbh. can we get some human/sentients rights activists in here? i'd like a child and family services advocate on call please.
what is the geography. we have irl china (mulan), irl colombia (encanto), irl england (101 dalmations), and also sherwood forest, various other magic forests, and literal wonderland. *how* does this work.
please note that i have only seen the movies. i have not seen wicked world, nor have i read the novels or any comics. if the geography is explained anywhere, please let me know. however, i do not believe the political system is explained (SIXTEEN YEAR OLD HIGH KING WHEN THE PREVIOUS KING IS CLEARLY STILL IN GOOD HEALTH! WHAT THE FUCK!) nor the lack of cps (KIDS! IN! THE! PENAL! COLONY!)
howdy howdy it's been a bit, but i've got the start of a d5 fic with the working title "tttt" that i want to share with yall. (yes that is just 4 Ts in a row)
i debated sharing the max or the chloe scene, but i've decided to go with the chloe one; feel free to ask for the max scene; i can probably be persuaded to share it too <3
spoilers for the film, obviously. (hit J on ur keyboard on desktop to skip the post if you still haven't seen it; on mobile just scroll really fast ig)
Chloe is put up in the room that is apparently her designated guest room at the Wonderland Palace. In this timeline, she and Red are apparently childhood friends, and that means they both have designated guest rooms in each other's homes. She faceplants on the bed, rolling to the center and digging out her phone from the pocket of her leggings.
Chad is still on speed dial on this timeline's phone. She clicks the call button, needing something familiar. Even with all the changes they've made, Chad can't be too different. He's Chad. If he isn't an irresponsible layabout with half-decent advice and so-terrible-they're-good jokes, then they've truly ruined the timeline beyond repair.
Chad picks up on the third ring, muffled music and conversation filtering through the background. "Chloe?" he asks. "Pumpkin, are you okay?"
"I…" Humiliatingly, tears prick at her eyes. "We…" How does she even start? Their mom died and neither one of them was there. Chad never even heard of the Queen of Hearts that did it— in this timeline, she's Auntie Bridget. She spoiled the four of them— Chad, Chloe, Red, and Pink— and… Chloe bursts into tears.
"Chloe? Hey, hey, c'mon pumpkin, you gotta breathe," Chad murmurs. There's a click of a door and the muffled noise on the other end of the line goes near-completely silent. He keeps talking quietly while she composes herself, and by the time she manages to actually focus on what he's saying, he's halfway through a story about him and Gil on a deserted island, something to do with coconuts and pineapples and a crashed lifeboat from Ben's ambassador ship.
She sniffles, clearing her throat. "You're allergic to coconuts," she says, cutting him off.
"How was Gil supposed to know that?" Chad counters. "Did you get it all out?"
She sits up, drawing her knees up to her chest. "Yeah. It's been a long week."
"School that rough?"
"Sort of," she says. "Uh, did anyone tell you Maddox Hatter tried to take over Wonderland a few days ago?"
"What? No, that had not reached us. Is everyone okay?"
"We're all fine," she says. "Red and Max and I stopped him. But I…" she heaves in a breath. "It was my fault."
"Chloe, what are you talking about? How is what Maddox did your fault?"
"We… Red and I, um…" she pauses. "You're not going to believe me."
Chad snorts, a huff of air through his nose. "Try me. I'm friends with Audrey, Mal, and Lanxing."
"It's… have you ever heard of the White Rabbit's Pocket Watch?"
"The thing Maddox got sent to the Isle over?"
"It's real," she says, "Or at least, it was, in the last timeline."
"The last time— Chloe are you okay?"
"I… it's not… I'm not… Mom died, in the last timeline. The Queen of Hearts killed her."
There's a thunk. "Sorry," Chad says after a second. "I dropped my phone. Did you say Auntie Bridget killed mom?"
(note: Lanxing is Lonnie bc lonnie is a stupid name for the daughter of Mulan <3)
okay i watched descendants wicked wonderland this morning. i legitimately had no idea this movie existed until i saw the pop-up on my dad's smart tv last night. it was better than ror (which isn't hard imo) but not as good as the og trilogy. they definitely had a better costume budget, and they remembered to have a 3rd act in the movie.
i've copied my liveblog under the cut to avoid spoilers, and will include a couple post-watch thoughts at the end
WHY IS THE NARRATOR THE CHESIRE CAT'S KID
it's so cgi too
"chloe discovered her mom wasn't always such a princess" wow who knew
also i can't figure out how ot turn on the subtitles which is really annoying
what is going on
the smee twins are here
aww gay couple very obviously dancing in the background
chloe's wig seems better so far at least
ANOTHER FACILIER KID
christ
i don't know how many retcons i have left in me guys
WHY
THE FUCK
christ
robin hood too? he's not even a fox
robby hood to be clear
what is this music
okay they're trying really hard to give max hatter a compelling arc about not wanting to be his father (who is the villain) but i'm not gonna lie they've already done this arc across four other movies with like 7 other characters
and they were shown better bc they actually showed the past with the characters backstory
ugh they're making up for all the potential love interests being in the past by throwing in extra love interests this one
"say what you will about your stepmother's parenting but you can sure handle yourself with a broom"
WHY IS IT HK NOW
okay why does louis madrigal have the same power as louisa
no one in the madrigal family has the same power
this choreo is. bad.
kenny ortega come back
at least the costumes are slightly better
deep sigh
dance fight battle that d3 did better
lord save me from therapy speak
"you give good son" what the fuck
who wrote this
okay could we get rid of the romance and go back to the friendship that was the nominal core of d4
okay the chloe/red shippers from d4 are gonna hate louis
MIDDLE AGED WOMAN YURI
okay if maddox remembers seeing them time travel, why do brigett and ella not remember the faces of their daughters
okay i like this max character tbh
i think there's too much focus on men in this movie after the last one where the interesting male characters only had like five minutes of screen time
in this one we've got multiple duets with guys
EVIL CHLOE
i love that going evil means straightening ur hair in this
THERE WAS A THIRD ACT IN THIS ONE
THEY REMEMBERED TO ACTUALLY COMPLETE THE STORY THIS TIME
IT WASN"T UNFINISHED
Post Watch Thoughts
okay that was better than the last one bc it was once again about the descendants rather than the ogs
it was not necessarily good, but it was at least coherent and cohesive
and the wigs were not like, glaringly terrible like they were in d4
and the costumes weren't fucking athleisure wear
anyway i think we could have done without like, all of the characters but red, chloe, pink, and max. hazel can stay too bc she's hot and i love having more hook family. keep giving harry more sisters guys he deserves them.
while i enjoyed louis, i don't enjoy descendants' commitment to bastardizing the original characters through their kids. chad, lonnie, now louis too.
anyway i will be figuring out how to include more of these characters in my rewrite of the descendants movies--- i'm only on d2 in my writting, so that gives me time for some of this. i'm thinking about mad hatter ending up on the isle so max is on the isle but also queen of hearts is locked in wonderland with red (and pink) (also i'm probably changing their names to scarlet and rose bc christ descendants has some bad names, but those are the worst, excepting fucking lonnie)
also i just realized that i don't think there was a single remake of a previous song from the og movies or og trilogy which is delightful
AND although i'm not necessarily a shipper, the fact that we finally have a duet between a main romantic couple? groundbreaking.
so i read erha this week, and i have a few plot bunnies that i don't think i'll ever actually get around to writing, so i shall be putting them to the void instead; if you feel called or inspired and make something based on these, please link them so i can see them!
Cwn stays at rufeng longer; nangong si is his first disciple; shi Mei ends up there instead and becomes his disciple as well. Shi Mei is revealed to be a bbbf and nangong liu sets him up to be pimped out to help increase cultivation. Cwn kidnaps SM with help of NGS & ywx and leaves the sect, letting the world think he kidnapped sm to eat. He is found by xue zhengyong by accident, who invites them both to come to his sect, where he works with shi mei and sisheng peak to create a haven for bbbfs.
but what about ranwan? idk they can have a more traditional taboo teacher-student romance rather than the clusterfuck of canon where the teacher-student is the least of their worries
Transfem ranwan: MR takes the place of xzy's niece and part of the whole smear campaign is her getting outed. CWN's self-loathing and low self-esteem includes So Much internalized transphobia, and she doesn't come out until like, the end of the novel. xue meng is also trans but she figured it out when she was little and the cultivation world doesn't remember that the darling of the heavens was a boy for a few years. shi mei is trans as well, but she doesn't want to be because she's been feminized so much already, and given everything about bbbfs, her being a woman is even *more* dangerous than it already is for her.
my typical time-travel speedrun fixit, where post-canon ranwan travel back in time to before shi mei plants the flower and fix everything (and have more grace than their canon counterparts bc they've gone through off-screen character development. song qiutong and rong jiu get to have interiority and be given an actual chance)
post-canon shi mei ends up stuck with ranwan. endgame ranwanmei for this one, but not without angst and catharsis and probably a little bit of dubiously consensual cannibalism
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Chapters: 1/2
Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Luke Castellan/Hylla Ramírez-Arellano
Characters: Hylla Ramírez-Arellano, Luke Castellan, Original Female Character(s)
Additional Tags: Sequel, Dom/sub, Mildly Dubious Consent, Kneeling, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Series: Part 2 of hylluke fics
Summary:
When Hylla finishes her post-shower routine, only a little chilled, she exits the bathroom to find Luke half-asleep on her bed, eyes drifting closed even as he keeps himself kneeling perfectly in the center. He's wearing one of the standard male sleeping uniforms, a garish blue jumpsuit in contrast to the orange work jumpsuits.
She lays down, spreading her legs to frame him. "Get me to orgasm and then you can go to sleep," she says.
Luke jerks himself to full alertness, sinking down between her legs with the ghost of a smile crossing his lips.
(or, hylla deals with threats to her throne, worries about her sister, and the ever-present past of her male)
Chapters: 1/?
Fandom: Now You See Me (Movies)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Alma Dray & Dylan Rhodes, Dylan Rhodes & Jack Wilder, J. Daniel Atlas & Merritt McKinney & Henley Reeves & Jack Wilder
Characters: Dylan Rhodes, Jack Wilder, Alma Dray, Merritt McKinney, Henley Reeves, J. Daniel Atlas
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Medical Procedures, Whump, Disability, Physical Disability, Disabled Character
Summary:
"It wasn't supposed to go like this," Dylan says, not sure if he's talking to Alma or Jack or even himself.
"His leg," Alma says, hand over her mouth. "He…" she trails off into French, muttering what might be prayers or curses.
Jack chooses that moment to try getting up, frantically pushing himself away from them and crying out in shock when the movement jostles his injuries. He collapses back against the asphalt, frustrated tears leaving trails through the grime on his face.
In the distance, sirens wail.
(or, Jack Wilder is in the car when it crashes a few blocks too early.)
Chapters: 1/8
Fandom: Now You See Me (Movies)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: J. Daniel Atlas & Henley Reeves, J. Daniel Atlas & Lula May & Merritt McKinney & Henley Reeves & Dylan Rhodes & Jack Wilder, Henley Reeves & Original Female Character(s)
Characters: Henley Reeves, Lula May, Merritt McKinney, J. Daniel Atlas, Dylan Rhodes, Jack Wilder, Original Female Character(s)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Chronic Illness, Movie: Now You See Me 2 (2016)
Series: Part 3 of paranormal au
Summary:
Henley’s selkie skin goes missing. The Horsemen gain a new member whose self-decapitation tricks are a little too realistic.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
howdy folks it's been a while have another nysm not!fic. this one includes a bonus actual prose scene 3/4 of the way through btw
previous: king edward ii au
nysm not!fics #6: "Love Potion" jacklula
at some point during ny2m, chase sees lula flirting with jack and goes "i'll help her along; it's not like they're gonna live long enough for it to backfire" and hypnotizes jack to be receptive to her flirting
canon happens, chase loses, doesn't undo the hypnosis, and jacklula get together
but something is ever so slightly off. jack keeps having these flashes of, not disgust, but wariness? when lula interacts with him romantically. he's not sure how to describe it, really.
he tries going to danny, but danny blows him off--- it's just something he's not used to and lucky to have, after all. jack remembers henley's goodbye and doesn't ask danny for romantic advice any more
he almost says something to dylan next, but this isn't the sort of thing he needs to bring up to the new leader of the eye. dylan has enough on his plate.
by this point, the flashes are strong enough that lula is noticing his reactions. "if you don't like when i do XYZ, i'll stop," she tells him, and jack, guided by the hypnosis, says "i love everything you do to me"
lula is the one to go to merritt, with a "hey, is jack acting different than he used to? i'm not trying to like, mind meld with him, y'know? i wanna date jack, not a pushover who agrees with everything i say."
merritt hadn't been looking too hard, but now that lula mentions it, jack is acting off from how he had before lula. or, more accurately, as merritt thinks through the timeline, he's been acting off since they got sent to macau.
jack knows there's something wrong now, but he can't articulate it, and every time he tries to bring it up with lula, he can't. he can't stop his physical reactions, though, and lula has noticed
finally she sits him down and goes "hey, i know you say you're fine with whatever I do, but i can see your reactions, and you don't seem fine. i'm not comfortable being intimate when you react like this to me trying to hold your hand."
jack: are you... breaking up with me?
lula: i mean, i don't really want to, but you clearly aren't happy
and that's enough for the hypnosis to break, because lula has called it off.
jack quite literally throws himself across the room, shoving himself into the bathroom and hyperventilating a bit because he was starting to like lula before chase got to him. she was funny and smart and talented and hot and into him, but he didn't want it like this
rest under the cut due to length
lula is freaking out because she tried to let him down gently (ish. she tried, merritt, but he's having a panic attack in the bathroom and you were his roommate for a year; surely you can talk to him)
merritt sits in the living room with a book and lula goes to have a little freak out of her own in her room.
jack gets himself calmed down and composed and comes out of the bathroom expecting to have lula still there. he wants to make it right, because he's just been leading her on this whole time, hasn't he. he should make it up to her. he's prepared to white-knuckle his way through a date as an apology for freaking out so much and making her think he doesn't love her, because he does love her.
he thinks.
he should love her, at least.
but lula is gone, and merritt is just looking at him the way he does when he's actually nice, instead of faux-nice like his performances. this is the merritt that intuited jack's father was an angry drunk and stopped drinking in the safehouse. this is the merritt that figured out jack doesn't like thunderstorms and stayed up watching dumb action movies with him to drown out the storm. this is the merritt that clocked jack's restlessness and started teaching him mentalism
and jack just kinda collapses onto the couch, head buried in his hands, and says "i think i'm broken"
merritt raises an eyebrow: "i think something happened in macau, something to do with lula."
there's a pause. jack doesn't move, but merritt keeps going. "I think my brother has always had it in his mind that he's a romantic, and he's never had any qualms playing cupid."
jack sits up. "but i do like her." a beat. "or, at least, i did like her."
merritt pats him on the back. "it's up to you what you do with it now, but my advice? figure out where your head is at before you take it to her. she's tough; she'll be fine"
while jack is having his panic attack and talking with merritt, lula is freaking out in her room
instead of the relatively comforting presence of merritt, she is found by atlas, and atlas has been a little in his own head abotu all this.
he's very atlas about it, but he does clock something's up with lula
"i think jack and i broke up," she says
"well shit," danny says.
"i think it was me. he was flinching every time i touched him or kissed him or flirted, but he would say he was fine."
"is he---" "merritt's with him. where's the fucking gym in this place danny i need to---" "wanna go get drunk"
atlas and lula go get properly sloshed bc atlas doesn't do heartfelt conversations. (this is post-ny2m atlas, not ny3m atlas)
the issue here is that the next day, when jack is ready to go talk to her, she's hella hungover
"I really did like you, before," Jack says. "I didn't hate it all."
Lula downs half Merritt's rancid hangover cure, regretting the fifth round of shots, and the fourth, and the third, and maybe even the second.
"I don't ever want my boyfriend to be scared of me," she says. "You say you were fine, but you flinched every time I grazed you."
"I..." Jack takes in a shuddering breath. "In Macau, while you all were practicing your cardistry, Chase cornered me. He... Merritt says he's always liked playing Cupid. I guess... I was a guinea pig."
"Because I kept flirting with you," Lula says, the realization working far better to clear the sluggishness than any raw egg could. "He wanted to play matchmaker because I couldn't keep it in my pants. Jack, I'm so---"
"I did like it," Jack cuts in, then grimaces, correcting himself. "Some of it. I did like you. I do, still, I think."
Lula takes another swig of hangover cure, making a face at the taste. "I don't want you to lie to me, Jack. Not now. Don't try to save my feelings, okay?"
"I'm not ready to date again, but... don't count it out?" He smiles, not one of his camera-perfect stage smiles, but something smaller, a little bit self-deprecating and leagues more real than anything he's flashed her way since. God, not since Macau, or at least London. "I have to get my head back on straight--- everything's all jumbled up. I wasn't lying to you, at Iong's. There really hadn't been anyone before you. I didn't think I could."
That is a little flattering, but Lula's brain is replaying Chase cornered me; Chase plays matchmaker; Chase cornered me; Chase plays matchmaker.
Her feelings aren't Jack's problem, though. She pastes on her own wide smile, sticking out a hand. "Friends, then?"
Jack laughs, quiet but real, and reaches out to take it. "Friends." He cocks his head to the side, smirk playing across his features. "For now."
i think he and lula can work it out, like any ship with a sort of trauma on one side that makes it difficult to have traditional intimacy
but it'll be a long arduous process that lula can't really help with
especially because jack doesn't want to be coddled or seen as weaker so he doesn't really let on how much he is struggling
blakekathryn
dailybridgerton
titsay
vaporwave
gracieabrams
baratheonpilled
prguitarman
pixelskylines
