I HC That Ripred Is Only Hard On Gregor Because He See's Himself In That Kid. Like, Ripred Is A Dick

I HC that Ripred is only hard on Gregor because he see's himself in that kid. Like, Ripred is a dick to everyone, I know that, but I think he keeps on putting cold, hard facts in front of Gregor, like how he's stuck with his rager abilities, because he just wants the kid to be ready and you know, not dead. I only realized this when reading this post about Ripred and Gregor's relationship, but it makes a lot of sense. Why else would Ripred tell Gregor about his disbelief in the prophecies and no-one else? Because he doesn't want his younger, human, more innocent counterpart getting caught up in that madman's bs. Ripred even promises to protect Gregor's family in the last book, because he doesn't want him to lose them the same way he lost his.

TLDR: Ripred has a tough-love thing with Gregor, but he only does it because he want's Gregor to be strong enough to handle his Warrior responsibilities (that he never asked for.) Not because he views Gregor as a political pawn, but because he sees himself in him and wants him to be happy.

gregor and ripred GREGOR AND RIPRED!!!!!!!

obviously ripred protects gregor. not in the same way he does lizzie or even luxa, but i'd say from the moment ripred saw gregor's horrified expression when henry was about to run a sword through him, he knew gregor was special. he told twitchtip to not judge gregor like she would other humans. he speaks softly when gregor is mourning. he teaches him life-or-death echolocation. he can't even tell gregor that the kid's gonna die in the prophecy of time. the "oh, tell me you didn't" to solovet after she locks gregor away. he promises to keep gregor's family safe, from one rager to another. he sees so much of himself in that kid and it's awful. the scene in cotw where ripred talks to gregor about being a rager (right after the frogs) will forever stick out to me. just. his peptalk to gregor before the final battle. ripred cares.

and so does gregor! gregor has so much respect for ripred, the rat, what has been the enemy for nearly his entire first journey in the underland, because he notices the pain in his eyes. he tells him "fly you high" when they first part ways, which is echoed by ripred when they last see each other. just the immediate relief that gregor feels any time ripred steps in. the way gregor messes with ripred, popping bubble gum after ripred insults him, joking about the prophecy at the end of book 5 ("time is turning back!" ripred - "shut up!"). in book 4, gregor sends the questers to busy themselves so ripred doesn't have to be vulnerable in front of so many. when gregor's in trouble, it's ripred's advice ("what's your plan?") that he thinks of. the section in book 5 where they all think ripred is dead and gregor is as upset by it as he is ares, that he "maybe even loved him." gregor looks up to him. just. the mentor/protege duo ever

Ripred establishing diplomatic relations between the Underland and the people of New York:

The Underland Chronicles, and everything is the same except people refer to the Underland as "down under", and everyone from the Underland has really strong Australia accents.

Gregor: *Falls into the Underland*

Multiple 5ft cockroaches: G'day mate!

Gregor: *Terrified screaming*

Me: Listen, we don't believe in Wicca stuff

My brain: Yup

Me: We aren't spiritual in any way, and don't believe in superstition

My brain: Correct

Me: And we only bought that book on magic for reference when writing

My brain: That was our intention

Me: ...so why do we want to try Wicca magic?

My brain: Just shut up and build the altar

I understand that this is not my usual shitpost, so look away now regulars (if you exist), but the rules on r/ocpoetry are a bit overwhelming, so here ya go:

Can you see the devil?

Can you see the devil?

He's in a row of masks

Holding a baton

Behind a wall of glass

Can you see the devil?

He's pouring himself a drink

Polluting the crowd

Pushing them to the brink

Can you see the devil?

He's sitting in a leather chair

His footstools are starving

But he really doesn't care

Can you see the devil?

He's pounding the table

Preaching blood-red hate

From the bar to the stable

Can you see the devil?

Look across the gap

Find yourself a bridge

Then simply look back

~~~~~

So uh, I had this story idea

Recently, I've been having a lot of fun with Character AI and making stories and stuff, but I wanted some outside opinions on my idea. Plotting and true depth aren't really feasible for my stories rn (though I do wanna develop those skill in the future), so for now I was thinking of turning conversations with Character AI into stories with OCs and putting them on AO3 to develop my general writing style. And I'm just curious, is this cool with y'all? Am I just being lazy, or do I just wanna write without the the inconvenience of having to plot stuff?