#//still need to think of how he lost his hand in the OP verse

[ravarui]

♡ for cersei, jaime, and TONY ??

What does my muse think of yours? Accepting (Mutuals only) @akagamiko

○○○○○ | ATTRACTION ○○○○○ | AFFECTION ○○○○○ | INTEREST ○○○○○ | LOYALTY ○○○○○ | TRUST

"Get out of my sight, pirate filth!" The words are practically hissed and she doesn't bother to hide the disgust in her green eyes. "To think that such a disgrace like you is rumored to be related to him..."

○○○○○ | ATTRACTION ○○○○○ | AFFECTION ●●○○○ | INTEREST ○○○○○ | LOYALTY ○○○○○ | TRUST

"I've heard quiet some things about you. You might be a challenge to fight. The pirate who lost an arm and the knight who lost his hand...we would make quiet a pair." A short pause. "Stay away from my sister!"

●●○○○ | ATTRACTION ○○○○○ | AFFECTION ●●○○○ | INTEREST ○○○○○ | LOYALTY ○○○○○ | TRUST

"While I have nothing positive to say about pirates, I can admit that you're not bad looking. Got them ladies wrapped around your finger huh?" Wouldn't surprise the engineer in the slightest. "You're hard to read, unlike others."

[ranmanjuu]

Could you write some hc’s for a zombie apocalypse au? Can you write it for Sasuke, Mitsunari and Ranmaru? Thank you!!! ☆*:. o(≧▽≦)o .:*☆

hey op are you a mind reader because this’s actually been an idea of mine for a while now (but again, lack of motivation hsaglhsa) and i’m ???? (also my three most favorite characters i’m !!!!) thank you for enabling me. it’s a bit different than what i had in mind for the original fic and it has just a liiil bit of world building details but enjoy!

—sasuke:

sasuke works in what they call the “safe zone”, ran by the government. you yourself never did go there—a decision well-made, in your opinion. rumor’s spread through the city that every day a good number of people were kicked out due to lack of resources, and their workers being put through hell to also not get fired and thrown out. but you never really did regard it as either true or otherwise.

it didn’t matter to you—until you met sasuke.

he’d been faring rather well, with footsteps silent as ever. it was the matter of food, water, shelter. the needs of his body would kill him before the zombies did—the simple matter of even eating a contaminated piece of candy could mean the end for him.

and there you found him, in a dark alleyway, fading in and out of consciousness; hungry, weak, cold, dirty—you didn’t think it through when you dragged his body to where you stayed.

it’s too late, you thought, watching his body wrapped in layers of blankets writhe awake, might as well let him stay for a bit.

as soon as sasuke could sit up, you immediately gave him food and water. snacks were better than nothing. as his body desperately gobbled the food up (he tried to cover it, but to no avail), you explained what happened.

“. . . as soon as you’re done, grab the set of clothes there and leave.” even words as cold as yours were said, the slight hesitance pooling in your eyes said otherwise. if he noticed, he never commented.

instead, he asked you while you were heading to the door, “and where are you going, if i may ask?”

“. . . fix the power outlet.” you answered warily; you never knew what people could do with information. you hated the distrust, but it was a given at times. “autumn’s coming, it’s gonna be cold.”

and you thought it was the end, worst case scenario is he’d sabotage you. but you tried to stave off the suspicion—

“i can go along, if you want. i know how they operate.” you stopped your tracks, silently looking back to sasuke and making your judgement for the decision. “i’m fairly knowledgeable with electronics.” he explained further.

your heart and mind weighed the offer. on one hand, so far you’ve been fooling around and picking up things with trial and error. on the other hand, it’d be easy for him to make it shit for you. a sigh, you grabbed a crowbar and half-assedly pointed it at him, “okay, i’ll stave off the zombies. i see you doing fuck-all, it’s over.”

even at your threat (one you hated to make, at that), sasuke’s expression remained stoic with a nod, “i understand.”

you watched his movements with hawk’s eyes, while decapitating any approaching undeads. but the swarm grew bigger and bigger—you thought security was better than this, but oh well. it’s not something you can’t deal with.

even so—you hurt your leg. prosthetic one, lost in a reckless accident and replaced with a stiff and quite low-quality metallic one. “fuck—” you scowled, looking behind at sasuke for a moment, “are you done?”

“——yes.” a brief answer, “let’s get out now—” with surprising agility, he grabbed your hand and fled the scene.

you were mildly pissed at those walking corpses for crushing your prosthetic leg, it’d take a while to trade with someone out there to repair it, if you couldn’t do a shitty job of it yourself.

but to your mild surprise, sasuke knew how to do it. just a few scraps of whatever piece there was lying about, some tools, and it’d be fine, he said. the usual wave of distrust fell over you—but it somehow felt easier to agree and leave it up to him. a repayment of sort.

and over time, it seems like the universe made an effort to put excuses for sasuke to stay, whether it’d be ventilation problems, electrical, mechanical  —it was impressive, no doubt. you’d soon take him in permanently under the guise of him being useful (but it’s more of sympathy really, you’re aware of that fact.)

and even on the off-time, you spent most of it talking to him. silence ringing around the rooms with occasional guttural growls of the zombies weren’t the best atmosphere, so to say. but he’d often crack jokes (which earned a nose exhale, or chuckles on a good day).

he’d tell you about his experience working in the equally suffocating safe zone—everyone’s working for themselves and friends don’t exist much, as you understood it. a dog eat dog world, where everyone scrambles to be the most useful and cram their brains to the brim while distrusting everyone.

and you felt a semblance of relatability in his detachment to people—but why does it secretly hurt for you? the thought of him dismissing your bond. . .

it hurts; you don’t know why.

and of course, he has more knowledge about zombies than the ones you just pick up from experience. in fact, it’s been a speculation that the virus withheld the body from decomposing—but not limiting it. in a about a year, he guessed, they’d rot away.

“does. . .does that mean this can end if they drop and infections decrease?” you asked, letting the curtain crack open to hope.

“. . .best case scenario, yes.” even as his face remain mostly stoic, you see the crinkles of hope, melancholy, happiness.

you don’t recall how you got to the decision—not a logical stream of thought at least. it jumped like an instinct for you to just propose it, nothing else— “sasuke, you wanna stay with me until then?”

a look of surprise overcame your hushed question, so filled with long-lost warmth. but similarly, the answer came immediately, “of course.” his hand reached to yours, tender and soft, the most you’ve felt in forever, “i’ll stay. face the past, present, and future with you.”

—mitsunari:

a strategist wasn’t a job common in modern times, but it’s one mitsunari’s taken during the apocalypse. securing paths, ways to efficiently scout out, etc. that’s why to say he was utterly baffled when a major breach reached his group—the oda—flooded the zombies inside.

the last thing clearly in his mind was hideyoshi’s firm order. the blur of rotten flashed around, the words echoed around, “everyone, flee immediately!”

and so he did. perhaps farther than he planned at first with the enormous swarm behind him. no matter where, it wasn’t safe—until he didn’t even know clearly where he was. and he’d remember the city layout, along with some areas outside of it.

he’s lost.

analyzing every path that he could take, his mind was too overtaken to realize a zombie spying overhead. only once the slight sounds of rasped growls did he notice—

and even so, a loud crack got it away from him. it’s dead now, he realized, and right beside the bloodied corpse was you.

“what are you doing, just standin’ here?” you asked, a small sign of irritation by the scowl on your face visible. but it remained flying over mitsunari’s head, even after you sigh, “it doesn’t matter—not now. come on, follow me.”

his surprise quickly dissipated as soon as you made your way into the twists and curves of an alleyway. you’re well-versed of here, he noted.

he took notice of many things on the way, how you’re always well armed with knowledge of the zombies weak spots, how they’re sensitive to noise, how you seemed to know which path would crumble if stepped on.

only when he entered where you stayed, a safe place, was he painfully aware how worn and tired his body felt—and you did too, quickly sitting him down and handing some snacks while also asking things about him. who he was, why he was there, so on.

he explained the breach, the split of his group, how he ended up here and you listened to every detail with your own cogs working along with his. “and where was your base?”

“nearby lake biwa.” mitsunari didn’t know where he was, but the way your face scrunched up didn’t seem too good.

“how did you even get here? lake biwa’s a good three cities—ah, fuck.” the constant tapping of your fingers did few to stave off either worry or just mild irritation, you didn’t know yourself. “and if you really did flee, there’s a chance they went in separate directions, too.”

he listened in you assessment, already making plans on how to search around in his head. but your proposition slightly baffled him—

“i’ll help you find whoever this group is.” with words that sounded kind, the slight discontent in your face went unnoticed by the other.

you yourself didn’t understand—years of wariness and distrust has led you to distance yourself from everyone—but why was it different with him?

“there is no need—”  /  “come on, it’s easier with two people right? you’ll go quicker.”

though words often harsh, mitsunari was a master in dismissing that with cluelessness. each time you declined that you wanted to help him because you wanted to, you kept saying it’s to be faster. but it didn’t matter to him, you were helping, and he cherished that.

days went on, with some city maps sprawled across the floor written on it some routes to search for. and maybe filling the air with conversation from time to time lifted your heart just a bit.

you’ve caught on his horrible self-care habits a long time ago. even as he’s very well-versed in most subjects (amazingly so,) he still read whatever book you had. and you’ve experienced his reading-trance.

you’d often scold him each time—especially in the instance of an expedition where he gets caught up in planning. even forgetting to eat would result in a disappointed gaze from you (rightfully so in your opinion, these were times of desperation from starvation). but he was improving.

you find yourself opening up to him, for the first time in a long one. the thought of sleeping in the presence of another made you revolt originally; but you felt safe with him.

soon, both of you’s efforts weren’t for nothing. traces of his group—”nobunaga” and “hideyoshi”, he told you—was temporarily taking base on the outskirts of the next city.

and suddenly, the concept of him leaving you created a pit of darkness inside. you’ll be alone, the walls will no longer echo your laughs and his soft voice; but instead silence.

from then on, you find each day a small struggle for it to stretch as long as possible. staying up just so you could feel being near mitsunari while awake, clinging onto whatever you could for now. it hurts, more than anything you’ve felt—but it’d be selfish for you to take him from the thing he’s spent this much time searching.

but the world wasn’t known for mercy, it never was since forever. time flowed as normal, and the day came. “. . .pack up a bit. it’s gonna be a long journey, and we’ll need to stay in some shitty abandoned house.” your voice came as a silent croak. mitsunari wasn’t often aware of picking up hints—but he was painfully aware now.

“. . .and why do you look so sad?” his words were spoken with gentle sadness, a tad bit of melancholy. as much as you wanted to avoid it for less damage to your heart, he already took your chin to tilt it to his face. you never wanted to say goodbye to his twinkling lilac eyes, it was the closest to warmth you’ve felt.

slowly. . .you were crying, sobbing. each shake from your shoulders sent painful stabs to mitsunari’s heart. and even as you were hurting—both of you were—you wrapped your arms around his, diving your nose to his chest.

“. . .i-i’m happy. . for you. i really am—.”

you didn’t remember anything else of that night, only the tender voice he spoke to you akin to bells from heaven jingling.

the next day, and the day after, the rest of the oda were found. overwhelmed by the many faces you didn’t know, you simply sat back and watched what would be your eventual farewell. you didn’t listen into what they were talking about; it didn’t matter much. at least you’d see him smile like that one last time.

only when he turned to you were you brought back to reality, staring with those earnest purple eyes. you know the others were observing in silence, you didn’t pay attention to it. only mitsunari. . .the one you. . .l-loved?

. . .yeah. you loved him.

he made his way to you. once you faced each other, he gently lifted your hands in his, and brought it to his chest. you felt the beats, ba-dump ba-dump, fast against his clothes.

“this may not be an easy request to ask of you. . .” he started. the fondness were now pooling in his eyes, and you were sure it was the same for you, “but. . . would you please stay with us. . .? my heart feels heavy of leaving you.”

—ranmaru:

it pained him, more than anything in his life. he wasn’t sure which would feel better, if the oda died and otherwise. from a breach that he caused. ranmaru wants to just disappear—but that wouldn’t be fair for a traitor like him, he didn’t deserve such mercy. he’s supposed to return to kennyo one way or another, but he just couldn’t. his legs kept on running and running—perhaps not from the zombies, but from his own swallowing fears and hatred for himself. it felt absolutely revolting to be in his own skin right now.

and for a moment, ranmaru considered if it was better. to just succumb to the pack of zombies in front of him. he knows how to fight them, maybe improv his way out—but he doesn’t want to. and just as his muscles fell limp in an act of surrender—

BANG—!

and that was the first time he saw of you; on the other side of the conglomeration of rotten flesh, gun pointed up to the air with no trace of fear or regret. and quickly, the attention of the zombies were quickly taken from him, and onto you.

and he felt the fear for you, you shouldn’t’ve done that for him. . .!

even so, there was nothing he could do. the last of he saw you then was you mouthing a clear word to him: “run.”

he did, and so did you. ranmaru’s mind screamed, scraping at the walls of his insides to not, but instinct and adrenaline took control more than anything.

he didn’t know where he was running—but wherever it was, you miraculously found him. and you managed to drag him to your base, no matter how many times he rejected.

as soon as you two arrive, he’s much more reserved than usual. not that you’d know, you just consider it normal to be that much quiet from a near death experience. you gave him food, a set of clothes, and water. but as time went on, you noticed he didn’t so much as touch it.

eventually, you had to push him to do it, even if his body felt sickening to its core. slowly, ranmaru told you little bits of his story, leaving out many parts (like the fact he was the orchestrating traitor). and just like mitsunari, you find an unknown source inside you just. . . allowing yourself to help him.

and because ranmaru wasn’t as much a strategist as mitsunari was, your execution was a lot more of wandering than anything.

and during those outings, you start to notice how weirdly capable he is. he’s switched back to his cheery, bubbly self, yes. but you catch how he’s so skilled with swords, sneaking around in inhumane silence. you waved your first encounter as a product of turmoil, and that he was as fragile that he framed himself, but. . .

the thought of him being a traitor to you, putting up a mask like that, it settled a churning feeling in your stomach. you’ve gotten so used to, enjoying even, his hugs and rambles—nights that were previously spent sleeplessly, just staring out the window and to the shit world splayed across it, were now filled with talks about silly and pointless things.

it reminded you of how it was before all this.

just like young school friends having a sleepover, you found a happiness and light feeling in you that was buried since quite a while.

along with that were times where you got serious. it wasn’t often, ranmaru would try to change the subject. but you were your own stubbornness; running away from something wasn’t a good way to go, you knew this.

and you’d always be aware of how his eyes seemed like a dark pit of untouched emotions. like the mere existence of the conversation was weighing him down a thousand pounds.

to add, you pick up on some inconsistencies to his stories. . .first he said  that the loud speakers in the building overrode the zombies’ sensitivity to sound and caused them to break everything like the windows and doors (even the locked ones, he added), then he said that it was because they were open in the first place. how he says only one person withheld the keys to certain places, then he said how said places were miraculously open later on. . .

you came to just a small conclusion.

“then, there’s a traitor, right?”

your words were toned in a way that was like just a throwaway line—unimportant, irrelevant—but ranmaru still tensed up, like a deer in headlights. fear, anxiety, regret; it all chipped away at him slowly.

and you’ve been friends for a good time now—you caught this. and it wasn’t just surprise either, it’s like he secretly knew.

in the end, an answer was never said. he just called it a night, and you let him.

it’ll be resolved in the morning, you thought, going back to your worn out mattress. and, just like many nights, you simply stared out at the sky with a mostly blank mind.

but then, you heard footsteps.

unstable, but not the way a zombie’s would. it’s not disarrayed, and they couldn’t get up anyway, not with all the security you set up. it can only be a human’s then. . .

you grabbed your crowbar, and silently left your room. a dark figure stood in the hallway, silently making their way to the stairs next floor. before you pursued, you tilted your head to ranmaru’s room.

it’s open, and empty.

your steps became quicker and quicker, hoping nothing bad happens as each staircase brought a chain of doubt and anxiety over you.

the rooftop. the figure—who you assume is ranmaru—stood in silence over the edge. the moon and stars’ light shone on them, and it was your dear friend. the soft purple-pinkish hair dusted over his head so perfectly, played by the breeze.

“ranmaru.” you called out. his body flinched. “what are you doing here. .?”

for a moment, he didn’t respond. you saw how his shoulders shook while his overall self was trying to make him as small as possible, but no words were said.

“answer me,” you took a step, hesitant, “please.”

“. . .i’m sorry.”

his voice was quiet, cracked, as if it could shatter at any moment. what were you supposed to do, seeing your dearest friend on the edge like that. . .?! all you could was reach your hand out—and take his.

“wh—” before he could say anything, you pull him into your arms, wrapping them securely around him. his shuddered breaths, then turned into sobs and cries. slowly and weakly, the hug was returned.

“. . .what am i supposed to do?” he sound so horribly lost, afraid, your own heart was ripping. “everything i do—the food tastes like sand in my mouth, every step feels wrong to take, i—i don’t know what to do!”

ranmaru broke down in front of you, and you let him. words were slurring into thoughtless ramblings and rants. there wasn’t a thing you understood completely, but—

“please, ranmaru, i. . .” your arms tightened around him. he’s alive, he’s safe. “please stay with me. we’ll get through this, just—i beg you, stay.”

[lawrenceop]

HOMILY for the 1st Wed per annum (I)

Heb 2:14-18; Ps 104; Mark 1:29-39

Christ, who is eternal God, shared equally in our humanity, having the “same blood and flesh” as us, taking “descent from Abraham” and not from angels, to the extent that Christ himself also has “himself been through temptation” so as to understand what we undergo, but moreover, so that “he is able to help others who are tempted.” In just these few verses which we’ve just heard, the letter to the Hebrews affirms the full humanity of Christ. Jesus, though his nature is divine, became like us human beings, and so, sharing the same human nature as us, Christ has suffered in the flesh, suffered temptation, and shared our frail human condition, even to the point of death. 

At this moment, many might be tempted to wonder where God is in the midst of this pandemic, in the midst of much suffering, sickness, and death. For if Christ in the Gospel came and healed Simon’s mother-in-law “straightaway”, why, we wonder, does he not come and heal my mother now? Why, if “he cured many who were suffering from diseases of one kind or another”, does he not do so now so that we can return to ‘normal’ life? Such questions, for us, are a temptation, perhaps to unbelief for some, but in fact, times of temptation and crisis should push us to ask questions that help us to consider more deeply some important theological issues. 

It is important to begin by remembering that Christ himself also suffered these temptations when he was confronted with suffering and death, culminating on the Cross, when he cries out: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He does this, not because he has lost faith in God, but because Christ experiences the agony of our human condition; he knows in his own person the depths of our human misery and sorrow. Many, perhaps, are driven to atheism because they have cried out in agony, and they do not find any response from God; they do not see him coming to heal us as the Gospels recount. And so, they lose their faith in God. 

But Christ does continue to heal and work good deeds in our world. God continues to remain with us working his purpose out and bringing all things to perfection. The problem is that so many do not recognise him when they see him at work, mainly because they expect “signs and wonders”. But, repeatedly in the Gospels, Christ tells us not to expect miraculous signs. Rather, God works in and through the good world that he creates and maintains, and more importantly, since the Incarnation of Christ and the giving of the Holy Spirit, God acts in and through humanity. 

For the diabolical temptation is to think that we human beings can accomplish anything purely by our own efforts and our own ingenuity. But, in fact, God is the source of all being, and the basis of any good that we do. It is Christ’s grace that perfects our human natures, his truth that enlightens our minds, his wisdom that teaches and direct our good actions, and his virtue and goodness that makes us capable of good works, working alongside us. As St Hilary, whose feast is today, has said: God “took on himself the nature of all flesh and through it became true life, he has in himself the root of every vine shoot”.

So, because of the Incarnation, God is now so intimate to us, so close to humanity, that we might miss him working in and through other people because we still expect to find God separated from us, properly tucked away in heaven, distant like the pagan gods, but only intervening every now and again through miracles and mystical marvels. Many have thus banished God from the world because they have split the world into human and divine realms as though the two are not intermingled. This isn’t a new problem, of course – for centuries many people have separated spirit and matter, and many have disputed the divinity of Christ because they cannot accept that God could possibly become Man, and could be tempted, suffer, and die like us! And yet, our faith in the truth of Creation, and the truth of the Incarnation challenges those silly old ideas about God, and it reveals a God who is ever-present to us, and who, scandalously, works within us human beings. As St Hilary put it: Christ “has become the flesh of us all”. 

So, in our time and in our day, Christ heals but he does so through our doctors and nurses; he cares for us through our health workers and paramedics; and he inspires and enlightens our scientists and researchers, guiding them to find solutions to our problems. Hence, earlier this week, a Dominican priest and biologist, Fr Nicanor Austriaco OP reflected: “Decades of experiments and countless sleepless nights by tens of thousands of scientists who spent hours and hours toiling at the bench form the bedrock of the vaccines that are now being deployed around the world. A lot of great science went into these vaccines and a lot of great scientists were needed to generate that great science…. In the end, I believe that the unprecedented, and really, unexpected, successes we have witnessed in the production of these vaccines are a blessing from the Lord. If you had told me back during the first lockdown that we would have a handful of safe and efficacious vaccines ready to go within the first year of the pandemic, I would have shaken my head in disbelief. And yet, Te Deum laudamus!” – We praise thee, O God!

Yes, Christ is still at work, still very much present to us in our distress. But the mode of his presence is not the same as in the Gospels, because Christ has ascended. But he has promised to be with us until the end of the age, so we need to think afresh and see anew how it is that the incarnate God is present and active in our humanity. Thus the great mystic St Teresa of Avila said: “Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.” 

[relijackson]

So get this...

Percy was lounging on Rachel's bed wearing a tux feeling a little glum bc his breakup with Annabeth was still a bit fresh (3 moths have passed)

But Rachel asked him out to be her date to her first ever big spotlight art exhibition

So here he is watching an underwear clad redhead putting on her pants and her matching black woman tux with flower embroidery (ootd suggested by Drew)

He doesnt feel so alone that much

Bc how could he? An underwear clad woman is in front of you

Can you like dress up without me here?

Why? Does it bother you?

No

[[MORE]]

Its also a really big deal for Rachel since the event is a big scale media-socialite-art enthusiasts type of big thing

She only goes to small scale intimate exhibitions to avoid the limelight but she was invited by a friend and she couldnt say no

They never knew that they'll trend that night

Bc you have Rachel in her tux with beautiful flower embroideries screaming FEMALE POWER

And then there's Percy looking like his usual. A Greek/Roman god.

Linked arms they go to the red carpet with flashing lights and camera shutters

They stop at the photo op place.

Wow beautiful perfection

They became the topic of the crowd

A woman who came in tux with a partner aslo wearing tux. People are amazed.

Some people think that Percy's a sub to Rachel's dom aura that night.

An eyecandy, trophy date

Rachel's pieces are at the top floor so they roamed around the lower areas first

But the event has a serious atmosphere after the glam lights at the entrance

So the two had a bet to say the dumbest shit and whoever cracks first loses.

They proceeded to be fools while keeping a straight face.

It was a hard

Thankfully they were interrupted by Rachel's friend, one of the organizers

Your work is absolutely amazing. Out of all exhibitions, yours is my favorite

So they went to the top floor to see Rachel's work

The room was dark with only the paintings having lights.

Her work consists of demigods war life

But her proudest piece stands in the middle. The biggest one. As big as the wall of the whole room

It was percy's face, the ocean reflecting on his skin and his striking ocean like eyes stares at the person looking at the painting like the its alive

It was majestic

Percy was touched

He felt really appreciated and seeing your face up there was lil bit overwhelming

He didnt model for that so he kbows she painted it just from memory

The memory of his face

He looked at the painting in awe then turning to Rachel at his side. He felt a surge of emotions he couldn't quite put a name on

But it feels similar to love

So he did what his instincts told him to. Say a cheesy line to break her serious face and laugh.

Thank you.

You like it?

I love it. I love you.

He held her hand and kissed her knuckles

Rachel knows he's sincere. She could feel it. Also she knows that playful glint in his eyes saying 'you're going down' and she would not be going down like he wants her to

But it was so cheesy its making her cringe and laugh at the same time

ALMOST SHE ALMOST LAUGHED

I know you do. You're my muse.

They dont know though, they've gathered quite an audience and their picturesque in the middle of the painting him kissing her knuckled and her tearing up a little (bc shes holding her laugh but they dont know that) while staring at each other was taken as a picture by one of the media people

Ooooooh boy their picture exploded in the internet in .05 seconds after being posted

They still dont know it though, oblivious to everything around them

I have a lot of gas in my stomach now i think I'm gonna fart

PERCY'S DAM BROKE

He snorted at Rachel's statement

Man, he lost. A bruise to his ego. Damn

So at the garden of the place was where all the food lies.

Rachel left Percy at their rable to get more sweets from the dessert table.

But she was interrupted by an old man

You should go with men who can handle you better, wanna join me at my private room?

No thank you.

I bet that man of yours is just about looks. You will enjoy your time with me more.

Then he touched Rachel's bum

There goes her hand flying, smacking the face of the creepy old man

I said no can't you understand that?

Percy saw what happened and hurriedly came over

Why you!!! Do you know who I am?!

Yes, you are an entitled old man who thinks money can cover up all your sins so you just harass women all the time at parties that you just invited yourself into.

You bitch!

The old man's hand swinging towards Rachel was stopped by a strong hand.

Percy's face expression was like when he was fighting monsters in Tartarus. Ready for the kill

He held the man's wrist tightly it might break

Don't you dare a lay your dirty hand on her

Oooh hes so scary also hot af

Media loves this

Also Rachel was confidently standing there expecting the slap but also relieved to see Percy there

The man was scared shitless so Rachel held Percy's bicep and told him to let go

Then she walked towards the man, fixing his tux with a determined power of a woman wronged by a creeply old man

She said in low tone

I know who you are and all the things you do. If you dont want them on the news headline tonight I suggest you stop right here

Of course she doesnt know him, she doesnt even know whatever he does

But she was trained by Drew to be a manipulative biatch at times of need

The internet loves Rachel and Percy

Also they realized that Percy wasnt a sub to Rachel's dom

So they speculated they're verse

The next morning Rachel's back into her normal sweatpants tshirt combo eating cereal next to her full dressed parents eating lavish breakfast

My dear, you've become quite famous last night

Rachel's mother showed her the articles and pictures and just coos at her

Only if the speculations of you and him together is true

Said his Dad

Maybe... Rachel said.

[symeraid-s]

My 2020 Awards (Music & Anime)

Music

Song of the Year: xaa-xaa – Horror This is the most played song on my playlist this year and it’s deserved. It’s just a really great song with one of the best intro’s of the year. Kazuki’s voice is perfection.

Honourable Mentions:

SID – Siren This one could technically be considered SOTY, but I thought that Horror deserves it a bit more. Still, Mao’s vocals give me chills

Taemin – Criminal It’s definitely one of his best songs and one of this year as a whole. And you know… it’s Taemin.

MY FIRST STORY – Underground Has a cool beat and great vocals. I also adore the lyrics.

QUEEN BEE – BL Probably has the best beat/Bass-line of this yea. Also showcases Avu-chan’s range.

Artist of the Year: xaa-xaa (Horror, Happy Wedding, Reito Ningen) I love this group. They constantly put out Bangers only and yet always end up under my radar. But this year, with the rest of the J-Rock scene being kinda dead, they really stood out. All of their songs landed on my playlist this year, so they really deserve it.

Honourable Mentions:

Kenshi Yonezu (KANDEN, Campanella, Canary) This guy is just one of the most interesting Japanese artists currently active. His Stray Sheep album is also really good.

Stray Kids (gods menu, Back Door) This year, Stray Kids really took me over. They had two very well directed Comebacks with amazing Music Videos.

TWICE (More & More, I Can’t Stop Me, Cry for Me) I didn’t really care for them in the past years, but they really delivered good music.

Super Junior (2YA2YAO, Burn the Floor, the Melody) TIMELESS was my favourite album of the year and the tracks we already got for the Renaissance sound really good. The Sub-Units (especially D&E) also had good comebacks.

Best Music Video of the Year: Stray Kids – gods menu This music video is a piece of art. There are no unclean cuts or weird jump-cuts, the Transitions are really fluid and the editing in general is just genius. Even if somebody doesn’t like Stray Kids, they can appreciate this video.

Honourable Mentions:

Stray Kids – Back Door Has the same great editing as gods menu, but there is one(!) unclean Cut. But it does have my favourite shot of the year.

Xaa-xaa – Horror It’s really well made and basically a Horror movie in cue with the music.

QUEEN BEE – BL Has a really creative production design and colour scheme and some really nice transitions.

BUMP OF CHICKEN – Acacia This is just a Music Video straight out of Nostalgia. And it’s animated by Studio BONES, so your argument is invalid.

Dance Performance of the Year: Taemin – Criminal First of all: It’s Taemin. This man can make everything look effortless, no matter how hard it actually is. And dancing with your hands tied is really f**king hard! Let’s just cut this short before I actually get into a five page long analysis about why this choreo is so amazing and just say: It’s one of the best K-Pop choreos of all time.

Honourable Mentions:

Super Junior – Burn the Floor Probably has one of the coolest concepts of this year, but isn’t perfectly executed. The combining of classical and modern elements is really interesting though.

Stray Kids – Back Door It’s energetic and has one of my personal favourite choreo elements of the year. 

BTS – Black Swan A cool choreo, but appears to be a bit overproduced. Still, that MMA performance blew me away. It’s also sad, that it got overshadowed by Jimin’s solo dance in the MV.

Dreamcatcher – Scream It’s one of the coolest Girl Group choreos and one of the few, that actually reserved a spot for a missing member, by replacing her with a masked dancer (take notes, EXO!)

Rookies of the Year: E’LAST (Swear, Tears of Chaos) They had one of the most interesting debuts this year, but got massively overlooked. The Comeback they had a few months later was definitely better executed and actually great, but was still overlooked. E’LAST really deserves more attention, please listen to them. If you don’t, them you could at least watch one of their dance covers of Black Swan, gods menu or Criminal.

Honourable Mention:

GHOST9 (Think of Dawn, W.ALL) They also had a really interesting debut concept, but their Comeback was a bit weaker.

Most Underrated Comeback of the Year: E’LAST – Tears of Chaos It’s a really amazing song with great styling, but was overlooked, because the group is from an unknown label and the stages were partly cut, since they couldn’t afford full promotions. Still, please check it out.

Honourable Mentions:

CIX – Jungle People somehow didn’t like this song and I can’t understand it. It definitely had one of the best breakdowns this year.

ONF – Sukhumvit Swimming This song needs more than one listening to like it, but it’s honestly one of the funniest/ most nonsense Comebacks of the year.

Super Junior D&E – No Love D&E is probably one of the best subunits and the song just slaps.

ONEUS – TO BE OR NOT TO BE It has an amazing build up, but the refrain is a bit weak. The Breakdown is the best of the year though.

Most Underwhelming Comeback of the Year: BTS – Dynamite Honestly, the Instrumental of Dynamite is really great, the execution of the rest is just… questionable. I still don’t understand, why this couldn’t be a Korean Comeback. About a year ago, they insisted that they were Korean artists and that they would not release and English song, but look were we are now. And I don’t even want to start on the Autotune. Jimin sounds like a chipmunk and I wasn’t able to pick out the difference between the rest of the vocalists. This could have been a Jungkook solo for all I know. With a better execution, this could have been a good song, but how it is, it’s just a stale earworm.

Honourable Mentions:

BTS – Black Swan It’s kinda the same problem. The Autotune is obnoxious and makes the song too forgettable. Without it, it could be great.

Super M – 100 It could have been better, but sounds a bit phoned in. There’s also a lot of questionable styling.

VAV – Made for Two Similar to Dynamite it also has a great instrumental with a weak execution, but it’s still a nice send off for Baron to the Military.

EVERGLOW – La Di Da The chorus and bridge are really good, especially the chorus, I love this chorus. But sadly the verses and rap fall flat. The rap-part is also slightly obnoxious.

Worst Comeback/Song of the Year: BLACKPINK – HOW YOU LIKE THAT I’m sorry, Blinks, but I really don’t like this song. The lyrics are all over the place, it rehashes the same formulas musical and video wise and the worst part is: It sounds like four songs stitched together. I kinda like the bridge, but the rest of the song is actively obnoxious.

Honourable Mentions:

BTS – Respect The entire 7 Album isn’t really good, but this song is just annoying. The way it starts really grates my nerves and, come on guys, this is basically a Cypher, when did you forget how to do this?

BLACKPINK feat. Selena Gomez– Ice Cream Whoever green-lit these lyrics deserves to be fired. Selena Gomez also sticks out like a sore thumb.

TREASURE – MMM Just… just… No! YG, go home, you’re drunk!

IZ*ONE – Secret Story of Swan The chorus is probably the most obnoxious one, I’ve heard all year. The Music Video is also a technicolour nighmare.

Anime

Anime of the Year: Jujutsu Kaisen This Anime has just really amazing Animation, some of the best animated fights of 2020 and, damn, the characters are engaging. Sukuna really seems like he could be one of the new greatest Manga/Anime antagonists. Park Seonghoo really proofed himself to be a really great director, so now it’s pretty clear, that Crunchyroll is to blame for the train wreck God of High-School turned out to be.

Honourable Mentions:

Attack on Titan the Final Season As a Manga-reader, I really appreciate that MAPPA is not censoring anything from the Marley arc. They really proved, that they can hold the torch from WIT.

Fugou Keiji: Balance Unlimited It’s just a really well made Mystery show, with interesting main characters, but not for the reasons Tumblr says.

ID:_Invaded A really interesting Sci-fi original Anime, with probably one of the coolest protagonists this year.

Moriarty the Patriot One of the most underrated Animes of the year, but Saito Souma really gives an amazing performance.

Opening of the Year: Fugou Keiji: Balance Unlimited (SixTONES – NAVIGATOR) It’s just a really cool song, with a very nice verse. The full version also has a really cool rap-part. It’s just a really well made OP and, even though the Animation isn’t the best, it really hits all the right notes. I also like how in sync with the Song the Animation is.

Honourable Mentions:

Moriarty the Patriot (Tasuku Hatanaka – DYING WISH) Just has a really nice intro and build-up, as well as good high-notes.

God of High-School (KSUKE feat. Tyler Carter – Contradiction) It certainly is the best animated OP of the year, but goes a bit too hard with the Techno for me.

Attack on Titan the Final Season (Shinsekai Kamettechan – Boku no Sensou) It fits the new tone of the season surprisingly well and yeah, it’s basically a banger.

Jujutsu Kaisen OP 1 (Eve – Kaikai Kitan) The song is pretty standard, but it looks really pretty and there is a panda running on a rooftop, so…

Ending of the Year: Jujutsu Kaisen ED 1 (ALI feat. AKLO – LOST IN PARADISE) This is one of the few Anime songs that actually gets me to stand up and dance. The Animation is pretty adorable and, damn, the final chorus hits way too hard in the full version, holy shit. I liked ALI fine for Wild Side (the Beastars OP), but this song really knocks that out of the park. This really is a band I’ll keep an eye out for.

Honourable Mentions:

Fugou Keiji: Balance Unlimited (OKAMOTO’s – Welcome My Friend) This was my ED of the year, before we got LOST IN PARADISE. It has a great intro and I really just adore the song.

ID:_Invaded (MIYAVI – Other Side) It’s really boring Animation-wise, but the Cologne Cathedral may be in it, so that’s a plus. On the other side, the song is really awesome and hits way too hard. I swear, this entire Anime is just a MIYAVI fan convertor.

Haikyuu!! To the Top!! 2 (SPYAIR – One Day) It’s a really nice song, certainly one of SPYAIRs best, there is only one problem: You just don’t hire SPYAIR for an Ending!

The Great Pretender (Freddy Mercury – The Great Pretender) I mean, it’s Freddy Mercury! How can you not like it? Also, the Animation is cute.

[wordsdrippinginink]

The Hinata we deserved ending up in the OP verse?

“You’re real lost. How’d you get past Dadan and her men?” the boy asks, hanging upside down from a branch in front of her, high enough to be out of reach should she not use chakra, but close enough to give the illusion that he trusts her. “She never lets anyone come to visit.”

“Maybe I’m sneakier than you give me credit for. I’m Hinata.”

He kicks his feet, hanging on with just his hands for a moment before twisting to sit upright on the branch, “Are you?”

“Am I?” Hinata asks, waiting for him to elaborate.

“Hinata. You can say you’re Hinata, but are you really? Maybe you made it up.”

Hinata laughs, shaking her head, “My name is Hinata, what’s yours?”

“Ace. You look real lost.”

“I am. Very, very lost. Can you tell me where I am, Ace? Or, if you can’t, can you ask your parents where we are?” Hinata knows she said something wrong when Ace’s mouth goes hard and white. “Ace?”

“Dadan’s the only person who takes care of me. You’re on Dawn Island in East Blue. It’s the most boring of the Blues, for all that the biggest names, both criminal and otherwise, come from here.”

Hinata doesn’t frown, because those names mean nothing to her, “Thank you, Ace. It seems I’m even more lost than I first thought. Do you know how long I’ve been here?”

Ace’s suspicious now, eyes narrowed and his weight shifting on the branch the same way that Hinata used to when debating fleeing or attacking, “I found you an hour ago. But I came through here this morning and you weren’t here then.”

“Thank you very much.”

“Are you a marine?” Ace asks finally, looking resigned and nervous.

Hinata laughs, “No, I’m a ninja. Are you a marine?”

“No. I’m going to be a pirate.”

“Why?”

“Because pirates are free. The freest people ever. Why are you a ninja?” Ace asks curiously. He reminds her of Neji and Hanabi. At least a little bit, enough to make her homesick now that she’s found nothing to point to where she’s from. “Is it because you like it?”

“I don’t know,” Hinata admits, sitting down again, to watch him better. “Someone told me, a very long time ago, that I had to be a ninja and I wanted to make them proud, so I did.”

“Do you like it?”

Hinata laughs, pressing the heels of her palms against her eyes to try and stop her tears, “I don’t think that I do. Being a ninja killed a lot of people that I love, but it was also the only way to protect them.”

“Gramps,” Ace pauses, clearing his throat, his voice softer. “He always said that doing something to protect someone you love was a sacrifice,” he pauses, like he’s considering his words. “And sometimes you have to. He says that’s why my mom died.”

“It doesn’t make it hurt less.”

“No.”

Hinata wipes her eyes, taking a deep breath, “Tell me more about this place?”

“You could ask someone else.”

“I’m asking you, unless you don’t want to.”

Ace shakes his head, once sharply, “I’ll tell you. But we need a map. Don’t move, I’ll be right back.”

“I’ll be here,” Hinata promises, Byakugan activating as soon as he’s out of sight, following him through the trees. “Orphans in forests, at least Konoha did better than that with Naruto. Even if they still treated him like a monster.”

[freedom-of-writing]

You’re all I want, all I need

Chapter 1 - I’m ready now

Chapter 2 - The 13th clan

Chapter 3 - Soulmates

Chapter 4 - Your enemy is our enemy

It's sunset by the time everything is ready for the summit. Lexa's throne room has been set up to host the ceremony with a long red carpet the goes from the doors to the steps at the feet of her throne. It fits quite perfectly, Clarke thinks, that the Commander of Death has to walk her way towards the Commander of Blood on a crimson rug.

Everyone else is already inside, standing by one side of the red carpet and waiting for Clarke to make her entrance. Or better, they’re all waiting for Wanheda. That's who she’ll have to be, at least for tonight. The broken former Sky leader will have to wait outside those doors. Thankfully, the handmaids Lexa sent to help her get ready did an amazing job in making her look like the powerful woman everybody is expecting to see. She is dressed in a gown with a high side vent that leaves her legs visible, the top is covered by a golden leather corset which all but sets off her cleavage. Then there's her hair, held away from her face and arranged in a series of intricate braids, reflecting the grounders' traditional hairstyle. Two stripes of war paint go from each one of her eyes to her hairline. Everything about her makes her appear like a powerful grounder commander.

"Yumi na teik won sonraun au?" And will you take a life with me?

"Medo ste thonken, medo drein au." A body's hollow, a body bleeds.

Clarke hears the beautiful voice of the singer starting to sing as the guards open the doors to let her into the room. She takes a moment to look at the people in the room, everyone’s staring at her expectantly. Taking a deep breath, Clarke holds her head up high, as she's seen Lexa do many times before, and she walks in.

"Oso kik raun ogeda, soulou." We live as one, we live alone.

"Ai laik yu gona." I am your soldier.

"Ai na get raun, you." I will atone.

Clarke’s breath gets caught as soon as her eyes land on Lexa’s form, standing tall in front of her. They didn't have the chance to see each other before the beginning of the summit, so they're both mesmerized by sight of the other. They don't let it show, of course. Nonetheless, if you paid close attention, you could totally tell they are staring languidly at one another as their eyes study single detail of the other's dress, hair and make-up. Lexa looks as ruthless as she does while wearing her armor, but all Clarke can think of is that this is the first time she's ever seen her in a gown, and she is stunning. Lexa is wearing a long black and crimson dress that leaves her arms and her cleavage on display. Her hair is held back in her usual braids, but her war paint is simpler than the one she wears for battle. Like Clarke's, it shapes into two stripes that go from her eyes to her hairline. As she walks, Clarke can't help but notice Lexa has a tattoo on her upper right arm. She wonders what’s the story behind it, but that of course is something that will have to wait for later. Right now, she needs to focus on keeping her back straight, and on walking without tripping on her own feet, so that the mighty Wanheda won't make a complete fool of herself in front of all these people.

"Yumi na teik won sonraun au?" And will you take a life with me?

"Ai keryon gyon op, ai keryon g' breik au." My soul moves on, my soul is freed.

Clarke comes to a stop in front of Lexa, as the voice in the background sings these words. They stare deeply in each other's eyes, and for a moment it feels like it’s just the two of them in the room. Their eyes shine with a newfound resolution, and it seems like they're saying that yes, they will take a life with the other. The words of the song reflect perfectly what Clarke feels right now. Thanks to Lexa her soul is able to move on from all the horror and loss she's experienced in her life, and now it’s finally free. Free to love the woman standing in front of her with all of her heart, and free to take a life with her.

"Pas skaikrasha, klin tristraka," After the storm, a lightning flash,

"En houd don gon hosh trashsaka." With all the world reduced to ash.

Clarke is lost in her thoughts, until the singer moves on to the next verse of the song. Brought out of her reverie, she remembers that it’s now time for her to bow to Lexa. Before anyone can notice the way the two commanders are staring at each other, she bows her head, and very slowly, she moves to kneel down on one knee. Staring at the floor as sign of respect and submission, Clarke cannot see the look on Lexa's face. She doesn’t notice the way her eyes sparkle with unshed tears, or the way her mouth opens slightly in awe. Thankfully, years of training in hiding her emotions help Lexa keep it together in front of her warriors. No one notices the way her eyes water up as Lexa’s mind darts off to that damned day when she had to leave Clarke behind in order to save her people. She remembers how bad she felt when she set foot back into camp that night, praying to whatever god that’s up there that Clarke was still alive. She wouldn’t dare to hope that Clarke might forgive her after her betrayal, but as long as she was okay, it didn’t matter if the woman hated her for the rest of her life. Thank God, Clarke did make it out of it alive. But only for the Ice Queen to go and threaten her life to win over Wanheda’s power. Lexa can’t believe she’s almost lost yet another person she loves at the hands of Queen Nia. But Clarke is here now. She's safe here in Polis by her side. Not only did she manage to protect her from Azgeda, but she also got Clarke to forgive her, and even more, to love her.

"Yumi na teik won sonraun au?" And will you take a life with me?

"Houd na fleim daun, bed' ge jok au." This world will burn, save what you need.

Lexa keeps her eyes fixed on Clarke’s figure until everyone else in the room falls on their knees before her. The first one to follow in on Clarke’s action is Prince Roan of Azgeda, to Lexa’s great surprise. The last ones, instead, are Marcus and Abby, which doesn’t surprise her at all. With that, Lexa takes a deep breath to regain her composure. She cannot let her voice waver as she addresses the people bowing to her. She’s their leader, and leaders cannot be weak. Emotion is weakness. She can hear Titus’s voice reaping it to her over and over again. Lexa moves her eyes quickly around the room, before tilting her head to her right to look at the singer, waiting for her to finish the song.

"Ai nou fir raun," I am fearless,

"Ai mana jomp in," I am to fight,

"Ai mana wan open," I am to die,

"Ai don sin y'in." You're in my sight.

"Yumi na teik won sonraun au?" And will you take a life with me?

"Jus drein jus draun," Blood must have blood,

"Ai medo drein au." My body bleeds.

When the song is over, Lexa brings her gaze back on the people knelt in front of her. And with her head held high, she finally greets them: "Hail, warriors of the 12 clans."

"Hail, Commander of Blood." The assembly replies in chorus.

"Rise." Lexa waits for everyone to be back on their feet, and for Clarke to walk to her mother's side before continuing. "We welcome Skaikru to our halls, in spirit of friendship and harmony. And we welcome Klark kom Skaikru, legendary Wanheda, Mountain Slayer. The reason for the summit has changed. We are not here to negotiate a treaty with the Skaikru, but rather to initiate them into the Coalition."

Loud murmurs fill the room as soon as the warriors assimilate what she just said. But their voices are soon cut off by Lexa's clear voice.

"To symbolize this union the leader of Skaikru must bear our mark." She looks down at Kane and Abby, expecting the choice to rest on either one of them, as Clarke had told her. She stares at them attentively, as they look at each other. Finally, Abby leans in to say something to Marcus. Lexa can't quite make out what is said from where she's standing, but their gestures are enough to let her know ù he is going to be the one to bear the coalition mark.

"Present your arm." She orders after nodding to him.

Right as the white-hot metal mark is pressed on his forearm, the doors burst open, and three people break into the room. Lexa recognizes two of them as Octavia kom Skaikru and her brother Bellamy, who is holding one of her guards at gun point. She has no idea who the other man is, but she reasons he must be one of Clarke's people as well. Having no clue of what’s happening, Lexa looks at Clarke worriedly. But her worry only increases since Clarke looks just as surprised as her to see her friends standing there by the doors. The first one to recover from the shock of the irruption is Titus. The bald man gives them looks at them threateningly as he demands an explanation as to what is going on. Bellamy’s voice is just as harsh as he answers, claiming the summit to be a trap.

“We have to get you out here.” He says, motioning for Clarke to follow them out.

The summit's a trap? No, it can't be right. Lexa promised. She… she promised she wouldn’t betray her again. There's no way this is a trap. Right? Clarke is more confused than ever as she turns to look at Lexa. She wants to trust her with all her heart, and she does. But there’s still a part of her that wonders if she really can trust her. So she asks, just to be sure.

"What the hell is going on?!"

"I don't know."

Lexa doesn't know? Oh, thank God! She has nothing to do with this. Clarke lets out a breath of relief, although she’s not sure whether that should make her feel better or worse. Considering no one knows what’s going on, and she’s never seen Lexa being so alarmed before.

"It's the Ice Nation." Bellamy explains. As if that meant anything at all.

"They're only trying to deceive you, Heda. Azgeda has nothing to do with what's happening. Skaikru is clearly the one behind all of this." An Ice warrior attempts a lame defense, but he’s soon silenced by the rise of Lexa’s hand. Her gaze is penetrating Bellamy's skull as she asks where they've come by that information. The three companions start looking around the room as if searching for the person who has all the answers.

"Where the hell is Echo?" Octavia hisses towards her brother.

"What's going on?" Kane interjects, but the only answer he gets is another question from Bellamy.

"Where the hell is she?"

"Bellamy, we were wrong about this."

"I don't understand..."

Seeing as the situation is only getting more and more confusing by the second, Kane orders his people to lower their weapons, in the hope of finding a solution which doesn’t include the use of violence.

"Bellamy? Bellamy, come in." A voice cracks from the radio attached to his belt. It’s Raven. "The grounders attacked Mount Weather." Her broken words leave everyone in shock.

Bellamy takes the radio in his hand quickly, before asking for a further explanation. "What are you talking about?"

"It's gone. They're all gone. Sinclair and I are the only ones left." Raven takes a moment before starting to whisper broken apologies into the radio. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry."

"You should've never moved your people back into Mount Weather." Everyone’s startled by the voice of the Ice warrior who had just spoken moments before. "The Ice Nation did what Lexa was too weak to do!"

"This is an act of war!" Lexa hisses towards the man, and her voice is so cold and threatening that it terrifies even Clarke. "Sentries, arrest the Ice Nation delegation! Including the prince." She shouts at the two guards standing at her side, and they immediately execute their orders.

"We need to go home. If they attacked Mount Weather, Arkadia could be next." Abby says, to which Kane agrees immediately.

"Go. I'll raise an army from the Coalition to help you defend Arkadia. Your enemy is our enemy now. We'll face this threat together."

"Mochof, Heda." A small smile appears on Lexa's face when she hears Marcus thanking her in Trigedasleng.

"Are you coming?" Abby asks Clarke, to which she answers without hesitation.

"They need an ambassador from our clan to stay here in Polis."

"Clarke, it's not safe for you here?" Funny how it took Bellamy three months to fight for her to come back home. The problem is, Arkadia’s not her home anymore. She belongs here with Lexa.

"I'll be safe here under Lexa's protection."

"Please tell me you didn't forgive her. She left us to die at Mount Weather not more than three months ago! Or did you forget?!"

"I'm sorry, Bellamy. But my home's here now." Clarke says the last part looking straight at Lexa.

With that, Bellamy gives up and turns around to make his way out, with the others following right after. All but Abby, who goes to hug Clarke goodbye before leaving.

"Be safe."

"You too."

Chapter 5 - Costia

[ybelovva]

the basics;

NAME: Yelena Belova

ALIAS(ES): Black Widow, Pale Little Spider, Rooskaya, too many to count...

AGE: Twenty-four

BIRTHDAY & ZODIAC: August 31st, Virgo

MBTI: ISTJ Inspector

PREFERRED PRONOUNS: She/Her

FACECLAIM: Florence Pugh

tw:mentions of deviant behavior (not yelena)

a deeper look;

FAMILY: Unnamed mother, Olga (Aunt)

AFFILIATION: Russia, Black Widow Ops Program, Red Room

THREE FAVORITE THINGS: Her country, Her job, Vodka

THREE HATED THINGS: Failure, Being Lesser than Natasha, New Gotham

EDUCATION: Some high school, Graduate of the Red Room espionage unit

SKILLS: Master Martial Artist, Gymnast, Espionage, Adept with all kinds of weapons, Highly Intelligent (to a degree), Trained operative

WEAPONS: ElectroShock Bracelets (Widow’s Bite) and Various Guns

ABILITIES: N/A

the questionnaire;

question: WHAT IS SOMETHING YOUR CHARACTER LIKES ABOUT NEW GOTHAM? SOMETHING THEY DISLIKE? DO THEY MISS THE WAY THINGS WERE - OR DO THE LIKE HOW THE WORLD IS NOW?

There isn’t much Yelena likes about New Gotham, but she does like that crowded streets mean she can blend in and disappear, whenever she wants. Allows her to watch her back, while following another’s. Yelena dislikes everything else. New York city, the creatures, the smell ---- but she especially detests the crime rate in New Gotham city. Moscow wasn’t nearly as dirty as this. At least they had principles and real punishment, where she came from. Here? Criminals run rampant, cocky, it disgust her, especially now that some of them have wings and fangs. It surprised her, all these new types of people and creatures, but it isn’t the first time she’s fought something non-human. She’s just not used to it being normal, but she’s getting used to it. Yelena misses the way things were, before the collision. She wants to go back to her universe, and fufill her duties as the Black Widow. At least there, she was the only one.

question: WHERE WAS YOUR CHARACTER WHEN EVERYTHING CHANGED? ARE THEY SUSPICIOUS OF EVERYONE OR ARE THEY TRYING TO REMAIN UNDER THE RADAR? HAVE THEY REUNITED WITH THEIR FRIENDS OR ARE THEY LOST?

Yelena was in the middle of a mission. Well, more like a post lesson. When everything changed, she was on her way to her next mission when she was taken out of her universe and dropped into this one. Yelena is both suspicious of everyone and under the radar. She doesn’t know who or what brought her here, and why? New Gotham is constantly changing, and with it bring more people, and more questions. Under the radar, because she doesn’t want to bring any unnecessary attention to herself. Give them just enough to ease them in conversation, that’s it. They wouldn’t want to know who the real Yelena Belova was. Yelena doesn’t have friends. Period. She’s lost and on her own, but she has a plan. She plans to scout out the area and people, as many as she can, gather information and figure out how to get outta here: that is her mission. Her skin crawls, the longer she stays in this place, but meanwhile, she’s going to use her skill set to save herself.

question: ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: ANYTHING YOU WANT US TO KNOW? ANY HEADCANONS? Hi! I’m Sessho! And Yelena needs a lil bit of an explanation to the group. Since we don’t know how Yelena will be played in the upcoming Black Widow movie, I’m basing her more on her comic counterpart who’s a little more evil than ya think (I have already discussed this with one of the admins). So, following, is a bio I made for her ages ago based on her in the comics. I hope it makes sense and you all enjoy!

     Yelena’s life before the Widow Program, was all but forgotten by the time she was fifteen. When Yelena was fifteen years old, she was recruited by the Red Room to be the next potential Black Widow. The same academy that the Soviet’s trained the first Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff. Once it’d become clear that their beloved Widow had defected, the Soviets knew they had a lot of work to do with Belova. And so that is where her story, begins.

     She was originally spotted for her exceptional physical condition, high marks on her IQ tests, and her talent in gymnastics. The KGB meant for her to succeed her predecessor. Despite the program’s success, their perfect spy failed them. So, for years Yelena was trained under a strict regimen by the trainers of the program. During her training, Yelena scored incredibly high on her tests. But instead of being proud about it, she stated Romanoff had scored better, under the same tests. She hated to be lesser than a traitor who deserted her country.

     The Red Room was her home, the pale little spider trained under for a decade. They fed her, clothed her. They played their vicious mind games on her, brainwashed her. Taught her how to fight, how to bleed. How to kill, and how to blend as a spy. She’d all but forgotten her life, before. One particular trainer she came to view, as a father figure. Pyotr Vasilievich Starkovsky, a Lieutenant Colonel who taught Yelena hand-to-hand combat, weapon use, and knife work for over a decade. A trained hand in hand combatant, he was her main instructor. She’d become close to him, and Starkovsky too considered her like his daughter. Though Starkovsky became obsessed. Yelena never thought anything of it. She was starting to feel inferior and inadequate to her predecessor, but as much as wanted to defeat her, Yelena undoubtedly idolized her. Even if she wouldn’t admit it to herself.

      While Starkovsky’s deviant behavior found a substitute in a brothel with a woman named Petra, a look-alike of Yelena. What happened next, Yelena doesn’t exactly know. Starkovsky was dead, killed by Petra. Belova was shattered by the news, and confused by the loss of her father figure. She’d been told Starkovsky had been stealing secrets from the Black Widow program, and Yelena decided to investigate, on her own. In the end, Yelena killed Petra, and proceeded to accept the role as the new Black Widow. Belova would go on to never know that the entire ordeal, and the brothel’s owner, and the other woman in the room, Nikki, was an exercise. And part of her graduation test.

     Her time as the Black Widow was short, but not without making it’s bite on the various people who mattered. For years, she’d completed intelligence missions for the KGB under the moniker Black Widow. Though her efforts, and partially the name, were overshadowed by the scarlet Widow. The real Black Widow. Yelena worked in the dark. The only people who learned that there was a second Widow, were her targets, and others who kept tabs on her. But the world knew of the Black Widow as a superhero. Natasha Romanoff, the Avenger. Yelena watched the movements of Natasha and the rest of the Avengers, through the years. And she waited. Shadowed by her predecessor once more. Seeing her face on the screen, fueled her obsession and drive to beat her, and be the only Widow that still represented mother Russia.

     Yelena and Natasha had crossed paths, at least once, before Yelena successfully killed her. Natasha had always been far more experienced than the younger Widow, superior, but Yelena turned Natasha’s “mind games” on her. Wishing to teach Yelena a lesson, Natasha and Nick Fury, created Operation: Validate. The operation had Belova captured and surgically altered to be Natasha Romanoff and vice verse. To be her duplicate, and Natasha became Yelena Belova. Belova mentally held it together and played along, believing this had to be a mission that’d gone wrong. In the end, Natasha explained to Yelena that she’d orchestrated the whole thing in order to tell her the truth. Yelena was just a pawn for the people who trained. An instrument in war, not some heroine for her country. And that espionage was not a game, but Yelena didn’t want to hear it, and she shot Natasha and killed her. Yelena escaped with her life before Fury and his operatives could get there, and their mission was deemed a failure.

     After much convincing, Yelena used the doctors provided by the Red Room to reverse the effects of the surgery. Yelena looked like herself again, and now, in this new world, she was the one and only Black Widow. She achieved her greatest desire, to beat her predecessor, but Yelena felt no differently. Her passion disappeared after that, but she continued onto her next mission....

plots: So basically, plot-wise, Yelena’s universe is mostly comic based since the Black Widow movie hasn’t come out yet, and I’ve taken some liberties here and there with her bio. In her universe, she killed Nat, but after she feels lost, until she ends up in New Gotham. She’ll slowly become an Anti-Hero, here, in New Gotham, through interactions and plots and whatnot. That’s where I can blend in some of the MCU for her, because I’m also really excited about what they’ll do for Yelena in the MCU !!!

      Connections! Honestly, I’ll take them all, no bias here, especially since I’d like to see her become somewhat of a hero. I wanna put Yelena through the ringer tho too, so come at me, bruh.

     The only other thing I was gonna put here was, my laptop can’t make text smaller (it’s already small) so all my text will look regular-sized for tumblr posts. Sorry!

[nerdettedreamteam]

robstar week 2019: day four

day four! hell yeah!! we’re about halfway done with robstar week! if you’ve been keeping up with my other prompts, @samdraws715​ and i chose to collaborate on prompts this year where she drew the artwork above and i wrote a fic surrounding the art. i think it’s a pretty neat way to collaborate tbh :’) all art credit goes to her! overall, i like this prompt, but there’s some parts of dialogue that i’m kind of on the fence about. whatever, there’s some good fluffy robstar in it so i hope you all enjoy that!

Fever

“Aw dudes, no way! Why did it have to rain on the night I did my hair! Now it’s ruined!” Beast Boy complained as the titans stepped into OPS after a mission of fighting Dr. Light in the rain.

Raven watched Beast Boy and examined the wet green hair on his head. “Looks the same to me,” she said as she walked past him.

“Hey! It may look the same but hard work goes into my do every day!” The changeling explained as he put a hand to his hair and slicked it back. “I don’t know what I’d do without my good looks,” he said confidently. “Also, is it just me, or was the rain like, way cold?”

“Tell me about it,” Robin walked in squeezing the water from his cape. “It’s freezing,” he said shivering.

Cyborg walked into OPS next, feeling cheerful. “I’m glad we got home quickly, otherwise I would’ve had a lot more oiling to do for my robotic parts. I feel as good as ever!”

“Glad you’re feeling good, Cy, but I’m still soaked!” Beast Boy whined. “Luckily, the is a problem that can be easily fixed,” he smirked before morphing into a dog and shaking the water off his hairy coat, splashing water everywhere.

“Augh! Beast Boy!” Robin said as he shielded himself with his cape.

“Way to go, now the room’s all wet,” Raven said as she lowered her hood.

“Aw come on, it’s not that bad,” Beast Boy told them while morphing back to his normal form. “Besides, at least I’m dry! And it sounds to me like you guys need a movie night to cheer up!” Beast Boy said as he hurried to the glass cupboard under the television to find a movie for them to watch.

In that moment, Starfire came into the room holding a stack of towels. “Friends, would you like some towels to help you dry off?”

“No thanks, Star, I’m already dry,” Cyborg gave her a smile.

“Yeah, I’m good too, thanks Starfire.” Beast Boy said as he kept digging through the pile of movies they owned.

“Robin? Raven? Would you care for one?” Starfire asked them, holding out the pile.

“Actually, that doessound nice.” Raven took a towel and wrapped it around herself. “Thank you, Starfire,” she smiled.

“Yeah, thanks, Star.” Robin gave a warm smile at her in which she returned.

“Oh, dudes, we’ve got to watch this one!” Beast Boy said excitedly as he held up a movie. “We haven’t watched it in ages, plus, since when was the last time we watched a comedy?”

The titans got comfortable on the couch and put on the movie as the rain still continued to pour from outside. Everyone was laughing and having a good time except for Robin. Despite having the warm towel still wrapped around him he was still cold, and, quite frankly, a little tired. He tried to close his eyes for a few moments but the occasional shivers he’d get kept him from doing that. He wasn’t sure if it was just because of the usual cooler temperature of the OPS room but he ultimately decided to just sleep in his own room. He turned to Starfire who sat on his left. “Star,” he whispered.

“Hm?” Starfire turned her head in his direction.

“I think I’m just going to sleep for the rest of the night.”

“Oh? Are you tired?” She inquired.

“Yeah, very, and a little cold too.”

“Would you like me to go with you?”

“As much as I would like that, I think you should stay here.” Robin softly explained as he stroked the side of her arm. “I wouldn’t want the others to think we ditched them just so we could be together.”

“Hm, that is true. I can see how they might think that if we both left together.” Starfire paused for a second. “I will join you once we are done?”

Robin smiled and nodded. “Definitely,” he tilted her head slightly and captured her lips in a short kiss. He then glanced over to see the other three titans on his right side and made sure they weren’t looking to see him leave. He quietly got up and made his way to his room without any of the others noticing.

Once in his own space, Robin changed out of his damp uniform and into a loose t-shirt and shorts. He climbed into bed and wrapped himself up in the covers and blankets that lay on the bed. He felt much better and felt a lot warmer. Apparently, a good night’s sleep was all he needed.

The next morning, however, Robin felt even worse than before. He turned to his other side hoping to find Starfire there but she wasn’t in bed with him. He sighed. He hadn’t seen her since the previous night and even then he still didn’t feel a hundred percent.

His throat felt dry, so he reached for the glass of water he put by his side the night before and drank from it. He put the glass down after only a few sips, noting the uncomfortable feeling he had in his throat whenever he tried to swallow. He must’ve had a sore throat. “Great,”he thought. “just when things couldn’t get any worse.”Robin, only seeing it as a minor setback, put on a fresh set of uniform and headed out into OPS, continuing on with his morning.

Robin found the others in the OPS room just as he expected. It was just another typical morning for the team. He was about to go find a spot on the couch next to Cyborg and Beast Boy when Starfire approached him first. “Robin!” She said cheerfully. “Did you sleep well?”

Robin rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, kinda.” He then remembered the events of the previous night. “You didn’t come to sleep with me?”

“What?” Starfire said confused. “I did, however, you looked so peaceful sleeping I did not want to disturb you.”

“Huh. I don’t remember you being next to me at all last night.”

“Yo, Rob! Glad you’re finally awake after all this time. C’mon dude! I could use another partner!” Beast Boy piped up from the couch as he waved his controller in the air.

Robin smiled at Starfire before departing and made his way to the couch. He took a breath through his mouth and exhaled, feeling quite hot. He sat down next to Beast Boy who was eagerly waiting for him.

“Me and Cy are playing this round, but whoever wins, you’llbe versing him.” The changeling explained.

“You’re goin’ down, grass stain!” Cyborg told Beast Boy.

“I dunno Cy~” Beast Boy teased. “You lost the last three rounds and your chances here are looking pretty slim.It seems that the video game Gods are in favour of me for a change!” He said confidently.

“Yeah, yeah, less talk, more playing!” Cyborg interrupted his rambling.

Robin watched the two of them start their match with tired eyes. He didn’t understand why he felt so tired again, and the irritation he felt in his throat certainly didn’t help. Hoping the boys wouldn’t notice, Robin laid down on the side of the couch, trying to ignore the itching feeling in his throat.

“Robin! Robiiiinnn! Robin, wake up!”

Robin slowly opened his eyes, which stung badly. He rubbed them and saw Beast Boy and the others around him. “Where… am I…?”

“Uh, on the couch? Right where you were just a few moments ago?” Beast Boy told him, hoping it would jog his memory. “It’s literally only been five minutes.”

“Are you okay, Robin? You haven’t been acting like yourself all morning.” Cyborg asked.

Robin sat up, feeling drowsy. “Yeah… why?”

“You don’t seem fine.” Raven said. “your temperatures appear to be fluctuating.”

“W-What? What do you mean?”

“Hmm…” Cyborg began. “I think I’m picking up what you’re putting down, Rave.” He turned to Robin. “Close your eyes and breathe in.”

“Why?” Robin gave him a look.

“Just do it.” Cyborg groaned.

Rolling his eyes, Robin did what he was told, but he barely had time to do so before Cyborg shoved something into his mouth. Robin recoiled backwards and Cyborg took the object out of Robin’s mouth. “What was that for?!”

“It was just a thermometer.” Cyborg said as he looked down at the reading.

“But I’m not even sick!” Robin exclaimed.

Cyborg looked back up at Robin. “You’re right, you’re reallysick.” Cyborg said as he waved the thermometer in the air. “103 seems pretty high to me.”

“Let me see that.” Beast Boy took the thermometer from Cyborg to read it himself, with Raven and Starfire on either side of him. The changeling’s eyes widened. “Woah, that is high, dude! Are you sure you’re feeling okay?”

“For the last time, I’m fine. I hardly ever get sick.” Robin told the others before a short pause, followed by a small sneeze and sniffle which came from him. The other titans exchanged looks, obviously not believing him.

“How do you even suppose he got sick?” Cyborg asked. “Ya think it had something to do with the rain last night?”

“If you’re saying rain gets people sick, then I’m staying out of it.” Beast Boy exclaimed.

“Rain itself won’t get you sick, colder temperatures do.” Raven cut in. “Rain is just water, but colder temperatures can weaken the human immune system, which can cause people to get sick.”

“And it was cold last night…” Beast Boy said as he rubbed his chin.

“If he has a fever, it wouldn’t be a total surprise if he also has a sore throat, since body temperature also rise when it’s fighting an infection…” Raven continued.

“You guys know I’m still here, right?” Robin interrupted. “This doesn’t make any sense… how come I’ve never seen of you guys sick?”

“Maybe…” Cyborg started. “because they’re from another planet,” Cyborg pointed to Starfire and Raven. “he’s got a different genetic code,” he pointed to Beast Boy. “and I’m part robot. Basically, you’re the only one of all of us who’s fully human, which is why we’re immune to that stuff.”

“Lucky… I’d do anything to get better.” Robin groaned.

“Then it is a good thing you can get better.” Starfire said as she picked Robin up bridal style and held him in her arms.

“Star?! What are you doing?” Robin asked as she walked toward the doors leading out of the OPS room.

“We are going to get you better as soon as possible,” she said with determination.

“But I-“ Robin started as he looked back to where the other titans were standing.

“No buts, Robin.” Starfire interrupted him. “If you wish to get better, you must admit that you are sick and not resist on getting healthy.”

Robin didn’t know how to reply to that. “O-Okay…” was all he could say as he let Starfire carry him away to his room.

Once they arrived there with Robin back in his bed, he got under his covers once again and looked back up at Starfire. “I do feel better just lying down, but now what do I do?”

“You don’t need to do anything, beloved. Let me take care of you.” Starfire kissed the top of his head before departing, not giving enough time for Robin to reply in time.

“Wait! Seriously?” Was all Robin could say in time. A few short moments later she came back with at least three different blankets and pillows, which she handed to him.

“You might as well get comfortable, Robin, because you won’t be leaving this room for at least little while.” Starfire told him.

“So I’m just supposed to stay here until I get better? All by myself?” Robin asked as he laid out all the blankets on top of him.

“Of course not, I can stay with you for as long as you want.” She reassured him.

“Are you sure? I don’t want you to feel like you have to stay just because I’m sick…”

“You silly, you being sick is the reason I wantto stay.” Starfire said as she unfolded one of the blankets and placed it on top of him. “Now wait here for a moment, I will be back with something else.”

Robin watched her leave and was left by himself to think. He really wish he wasn’t feeling so crappy, but he was super grateful he had such a caring girlfriend who wanted to take care of him. He perked up a little when she returned with a box of tissues and a hot mug.

She placed down the tissues on the bed and held out the hot mug. “Here, drink this.”

“What is it?” Robin asked as he sat up a little.

“It’s herbal tea,” Starfire said. “Raven taught me how to make it. She said it’s good for illnesses like yours.”

Robin took the mug from Starfire and let it sit in his hands for a moment. He blew on it before taking a small sip and swallowed it, liking how the the warmth of the liquid soothed the back of his irritated throat. He took a few more sips in peaceful silence as Starfire watched contently. After the last sip, he lowered the mug and exhaled, obviously having enjoyed drinking the tea.

Starfire softly giggled at that. She always found her boyfriend to be undeniably cute doing little things that he didn’t pay much attention to, just the little quirks that made Robin his adorable self. “How does that feel?” Starfire said with a smile still on her face.

“Much better, thanks for that.”

“You are most welcome.” Starfire said. She then looked at Robin’s bed. “Could you move forward please?”

“Yeah, sure,” Robin said, thinking Starfire would add another pillow to the pile he already had which propped him up, but instead of a pillow, Starfire shifted onto his bed and ended up behind him, with him laying in her arms along with the pillows as well. He was surprised, and looked up at her from where his head rested on her chest. “I hope you do not mind me joining you.” Starfire said.

“No, it’s perfect, actually. I like this a lot…” Robin said as he let his head fall back, his eyes meeting with hers. “Thank you, Star, I really appreciate this. You didn’t have to do all this, seriously, I could’ve just done this all on my own, and you could’ve saved some time as well.”

“You are not wrong, Robin, however, you know how I like to spend any extra time I have with you, even if it is helping you recover from an illness.” Starfire told him. “I care about you deeply, and I would do anything for you, you know that.”

“Of course I do. I’d do the same thing for you too, even though you can’t really get sick.”

Starfire giggled. “No, not necessarily.” She reached down and ran her fingers through his messy black hair.

“But I would do anything for you too, you know that right?” Robin asked as her stared into her gleaming eyes.

“Yes, I do know,” Starfire had nearly chuckled as she laid a hand on Robin’s cheek, which he leaned his face into. “And I am glad to have someone who cares just as much for me as I do to them.”

“Me too, it feels nice to know that.” Robin said as Starfire continued to run her fingers through his thick hair. She did so in silence for a moment longer, absolutely loving the way Robin pushed into her touch. She knew he wanted more, and he knew she knew it as well.

“Feels good?” Starfire gave him a look as she watched his face as she continued.

“Mmm, very.” Robin nearly sighed. He took her hand that was on his cheek and kissed it twice before stroking it with his thumb. “My princess…” he said lazily. “I love you so much.”

She smiled and leaned forward, leaving a kiss to his forehead. “I love you too.”

The two of them continued to lay together in bed until eventually they both ended up falling asleep together, feeling happy to have each other, always.

[mas-ai]

UTAPRI DISNEYLAND HEADCANONS!

Pardon me while I indulge myself, unload my mind and project.

Warnings ahead: Extremely long post, OOC, self-indulgence, shipping mentions, rare pairs (all characters aged up but nothing nsfw is here), Disneyland ‘spoilers’ , mentions of mental illness/causes of mention illness (Reiji, Ichinose, Aine, etc), not a dark post though, fluff, 

Ai:

 Mom mode activated

 Everyone has specific, custom glowsticks so you can find everyone at night no problem

 Also everyone has to wear GPS bracelets that allow Ai to track them in case anyone gets lost

 He downloaded a mental map of the parks 

 Literally never lost, knows where everything is and the fastest way to get there

 Faster than the Disneyland app by 73.2% (ok for real though I had almost no issues with it when i was there??)

 He knows all of the secrets

 All of them

 Blurts out a bunch of random trivia and info he found while researching (which makes him fun to be with!!)

 Then asks why it's important and has to have it explained to him

 Snacks and water every 2 hours

Natsuki:

 The actual child

 Ai insisted on tethering him to a harness+leash after the aquarium fiasco

 Also must have someone keeping an eye on him at all times

 Outprincesses the Princesses

 where's tinkerbell

 more of a fairy than tinkerbell

 goes to bibbidi bobbidi boutique and gets pixie dust (glitter) sprinkled in his hair)

 the BEST character interactions

 insists on eating all the food so he can remake everything when he gets back

 somehow finds his way into the kitchens and poor syo is a victim

 Poses everyone before all the photos

 Must go on the fastest/scariest rides 6 times in a row

 Always has hands up and is laughing in every ride photo

The cutest, most magical expressions in all their pictures

Masato:

 Brought the snacks and water

 Helps Ai give them out on schedule

 Also has bandaids, bug spray, sunscreen, hats, sweaters, spare shoe inserts, spare clothes

 Has 2 bags in bag check and carries around an oversized backpack all day

 LOTS OF BUG SPRAY

 "masato there's not really a lot of bugs here"

 Insists everyone calls the minute that they're done rides if they separate

 Also insists on breaks midday

 Ai agrees

 Really interested in seeing all the shows, parades, etc and making this a learning experience

 Also wants to go on as many tours as possible

 Buys everything for Mai!!!

Video calls with Mai so she can see!!

 Holds Ai's hand during fireworks

Syo:

 we'RE noT taKinG breAkS

 he has this D O W N

 he trained for this

 he made everyone else train for this

 This boy is getting everything done.  Everything.

 Fainted when he realized how much there was to do

 Probably asked for Ai's help to make a schedule so they could get everything done

 Is the first to deviate from the schedule the minute they're through the gates

 Designated FastPass runner

 Coordinated everybody else's outfits

 "do you think we can get on a parade float"

 Boardwalk games!! He wins everything!!

reluctant to leave at mid-day squad

later really glad they left mid-day and is happy to sit by the pool squad

Otoya:

 Absolutely the most excited for the trip until they got there

 Is now overwhelmed

 Really interested in the music

 Seriously he pays attention to everything in the background and hums it the entire time

 He's so inspired for new songs now

 Designated photographer

 All his photos are blurry

CARS LAND!!!!!

 Winds up just running for FastPasses with Syo instead

 (i got kinda shippy with syo/otoya on ideas but ill resist)

Ichinose:

 Pulled more allnighters than necessary (sometimes with Ren) to plan and book everything but nobody knows how much they put into it

 Original daily routines, flights, reservations, packing lists, everything was started by him and Ren (until Ren started to favor sleep after two weeks)

 At first it’s all super simple but then he starts overcomplicating it and when he's in the thick of it he can't stop and has to solve every potential problem

 (no problems wind up happening)

 Reiji discovers him one night and shuts it down (and then took over/shifted some stuff to Ai who would be better suited)

 He and Masato were then in charge of buying items for the trip but Masato started overplanning/over worrying so he took over

 Park bags? Got them. Ponchos? Thank him. Waterproof phone protectors? You got it. Chargers? Lots! Trading pins? Preordered online

 Also really thinks hard about everybody's individual needs and concerns and is worried about everyone not having the best time ever

 This boy is S O  F T 

 He was also in charge of meal plans (until they got to the park and Ranmaru started hearing about all the food and took over)

 This boy has not slept since they first decided they were going and hasn't done a single thing he wanted to do the entire time they're there

 So crowds are a thing and he's now crashing

 Reiji pulls him aside and they wander off to get some drinks and probably to Tom Sawyer's Island (very quiet! beautiful nature views!) and just... be in Disneyland

 Really deep conversations while looking into New Orleans!

They ride the Mark Twain together and drive the boat too!!

 Reiji takes him through all the shops on Main Street and they spend hours in the art gallery

 Also they sit on the disneyland railroad and just go around the park 400 times? (he likes the parts in Splash Mountain, also the show scenes)

 He and Reiji get caught in one of the 'bandit' shows where their train is 'robbed'. He's annoyed at first but has fun.

 Is now just the designated ticket/pass/autograph book holder. Probably safely storing everyone's passports in his luggage too.

Camus:

 Does not appear interested in this adventure. At all.

 Until one night he orders Cecil awake at 3AM to do a bunch of research for him and does not say why

 Nobody finds out until the day of, but he's upgraded EVERYTHING. First class jet, upgraded rooms, premium viewing for shows, etc

 Probably managed to book an entire section of the park (or even an entire park) for the group

 Also he just wanted information on every treat in the area

 He wants to try EVERYTHING

 He knows where all the best sweets are (don’t be fooled a lot of the food/treats are d i s g u s t i n g) and all the specials for the season

 Contacted ahead of time to have special treats made for each of them that represent them and are then delivered during their dinner as a surprise

 Do it right or not at all

 Don't half-ass things

 This means nothing. I care about none of you

 "peasants"

 he's smiling

reluctant to leave at mid-day squad

later really glad they left mid-day and is happy to sit by the pool

Cecil:

 "whats that"

 O H

 NOW HE'S VERY EXCITED

 Marathoned every movie  EVERY movie for months with everyone

 TAKE THIS BOY TO THE PARADES

 ALSO ON THE TEACUPS

 ALSO MUSICAL CHAIRS WITH ALICE AND HATTER

 thinks the princesses are actually princesses

 charms them all

 Was not amused at waking up so early and obeying Camus but learned a lot and is surprisingly well-versed in the park

 Knows where everything is and what everyone is doing at every point in time

 "has anyone seen x it's been 4 hours" yes he knows where they are

 Also Ai would wake up halfway through his planning sessions and stumble across Cecil and they'd wind up planning together

Really cute early morning planning sessions before work

Cecil falls asleep on Ai’s shoulder

 This is when he finds out about Ai

 He changes into full-on rainsuit for water rides 'for ai's sake' and makes ai do it too (ai is confused)

 He and Ai huddle together under an extremely oversized raincoat (or refuse to get on water rides altogether)

 But if they're getting splashed he dramatically sacrifices himself for Ai

reluctant to leave at mid-day squad

later really glad they left mid-day and is happy to sit by the pool nap squad

So inspired by all the lights and costumes

STARISH is now getting led costumes

Also quick-change costumes (tear-away to reveal a second outfit!)

Skipping/running EVERYWHERE

singing the entire time

Ren:

 This boy takes forever to get ready in the morning

But he’s one of the first awake and helps Ai & Masato to parent everyone out of bed

There’s an ongoing joke that the three of them are married

Maybe they are

Did so much more for this trip than anyone realizes

Suggests they split off several times during the day so everybody can enjoy what they want to

Probably winds up taking over photos after seeing Otoya's

 They're much better

 Insists on hiring professional photographer though

 Don't tell anybody but he pulled all-nighters to get things planned out with Ichinose

 Coralls everybody in for the afternoon breaks

 “Time to relax in the pool” initiation squad

“yes you have to shower before we go back”

really glad they left mid-day and is happy to sit by the pool squad

Reiji:

 "we're riding indiana jones ten times in a row kids" take me with you

 haw yee

 This boy has the most flamboyant hats and you can spot him from a mile away

the worst for being tacky

But also at the same time really charming and cute somehow?? 

But don’t tell him!

 Doesn't voice anything he wants to do, wants everyone else to have the best time.

 Insists on surprise kiss pictures with everyone

 Scrapbooks everything at the end of the trip because it was some of the best memories he had with everyone

he probably cries over the pictures because they mean a lot to him

 Ai finds out about the scrapbook and helps out

Is surprised for the following Christmas when everyone pulled together to make matching sweaters & ornaments for the whole group for a group picture for Reiji’s sake

It’s now a tradition

It’s his favourite tradition

Ranmaru:

 Here for the food

 Or so he thinks

 Winds up liking the rides a lot though

 Probably the one everyone hangs onto when they're scared

 super protective of ai on rides

 throws himself over ai on several occasions to prevent him from getting wet

 this is a good boy. ty for protecting the precious robot

 Last to wake up and first to head home but b o y does he have the most fun

 hell to pay the one day masato forgot to pack a banana

masato still feels bad

 (reiji to the rescue to prevent meltdown though)

unintentional cat naps with cecil during the mid-day breaks

either they’re cuddling

or cecil wanted to watch a movie and they wound up falling asleep while ranmaru was playing with cecil’s hair

he didn’t realize he swears

he just missed relaxing with a cat

cecil says nothing

Bonus!

Aine:

 at the bottom of the finding nemo ride

 bye

[qqueenofhades]

alone, i fight these animals [alone, until i get home]

To nobody’s surprise, I had another Kastle plot bunny, as I absolutely adore them being soft, but Frank and Karen are also messy, broken, dangerous people with a lot of trauma, and I wanted to write about them dealing with that and something from Frank’s POV. Also, I had a whole lot of feelings about Frank as a father, and well. This happened. Set sometime in my future verse where they’ve moved in together.

Rated M; content warnings for canon-typical violence, themes, and language, and mentions of sexual abuse, abortion, child loss, etc. Angst, but we get there in the end.

The door of the cellar stands half-open, letting in a wash of damp, cold New York winter night, that ever-present murky tang of the Hudson mixing with the sharper, metallic reek of blood. Frank completes his methodical pace around, making sure that nobody is still groaning, but if anyone is in fact alive, they sure as hell aren’t stupid enough to tip him off, and he wonders if he should shoot them all again, just to be safe. Jesus, he wants to. One shot, one kill, that’s always been the rule. Even Schoonover, who masterminded the murder of his family, got one clean shot to the head, no wasted energy, no needless mess. But these sons of bitches… Frank’s trigger finger is still twitching, and he clenches it hard. One thing at a time.

As far as he can tell, the seven corpses in the cellar are indeed genuinely in that state, and the faint, acrid whiff of shit confirms that. Frank kneels down by the nearest one and rolls him over. Pale, doughy, middle-aged white guy with glasses, looks like an office manager, which seems to be how most of them look. This fucking bastard was the leader of one of the biggest child porn rings on the Deep Web, made money hand over fist with his sick videos, supposedly used one of his own kids in them. He’s been on Homeland’s radar, they were preparing a big sting op to blow up the ring. Madani’s gonna be pissed that Frank got here before she could, but that’s her problem. Waiting for some fat-cat bureaucrat to get back from his Caribbean vacation to sign the warrants, have you ever heard something that stupid? These monsters were out here still hurting kids, hurting little girls, and needless to say, they were not expecting the Punisher to burst into their lair in all his trench-coated, jackbooted glory. Some of them put up a fight. Lots of bullets flying, but Frank was careful not to hit the servers. Madani’s eggheads can confiscate them and comb them to their heart’s content, see if there are any more they missed. He was never giving them the decency of a comfortable life in prison, no matter how unwelcome child abusers are in there. He still can’t slow down the roaring in his ears.

Frank dispassionately examines the bullet hole in the ringleader’s forehead. He’s definitely dead, but for the first time in his life, Frank almost wishes he’d broken his own rules. He doesn’t torture unless he needs information, and he had all the information he needed, here. But this asshole didn’t deserve to die that easy. Once upon a time, Frank would have believed that sinners would get their just desserts in hell, but that’s kid stuff, fairytales. He ain’t like Red with the Catholic shit. Watched it turn to ash a long time ago. Probably burst into goddamn flames if he stepped into a church now.

Outside, he can hear the drone of sirens -- someone, understandably, has taken note of the ruckus in the cellar and called the cops. Frank should get out of here, and as he rises to his feet, an unexpected pain in his side clips him and makes him grunt. He looks down to see a wet stain on his black hoodie, where one of the pedos got lucky and winged him low in the ribs. He didn’t notice it in the chaos, and it’s far from the worst he’s ever taken, obviously, but he should stop at an all-night pharmacy and get some shit to patch it before he gets home. He doesn’t want Karen to worry.

With a final glance around, Frank jogs to the door and lets himself out, just as footsteps are hurrying down from upstairs. He steps outside into the night and hangs a sharp left as red and blue lights start to splash the wet pavement – good ol’ NYPD, day late and a dollar short as per fucking usual. The appearance of a bunch of dead perverts in a basement isn’t going to cause anyone any personal distress, but it does serve as a calling card, and Madani, at least, is going to know who did it. Not that Frank thinks she’ll narc on him – they have a weird understanding, and part of him feels that she wouldn’t have mentioned that tip about girls being trafficked through Newark International if she didn’t want him to do something about it, wanted but could obviously never say or encourage him to undercut her whole sting. Madani can be ruthless in her fashion, but she’s still obnoxiously dedicated to the ideal of the law and truth and the American way. Give the feds time to do their job. That’s a good one.

Frank speeds up, almost growling at a goggling dog-walker to keep his eyes fucking forward, and darts into an alley to peel off his jacket and stuff it into his backpack with his usual clanking arsenal of automatic weapons. The wound in his side isn’t bad, but it’s definitely bleeding a lot, and he glances around (there are literally five million Duane Reades in Manhattan, he has to be within a few blocks of one). Sure enough, couple more minutes, he sees one, and steps inside with an anemic clank of bells. The bright fluorescents make him squint. They’re playing “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer,” because apparently this might in fact be hell after all. Tacky Christmas stuff everywhere.

Frank strides past some alarmed local shoppers to the pharmacy, grabs some first-aid shit – bandages, disinfectant, surgical tweezers, whatever he needs to get the slug out – and heads to the counter. The clerk can’t help but try not to look too hard. He asks Frank if he wants the mouthwash on promotion, 99¢, or the $1.99 gingerbread cookie. Frank says sure. Man’s just trying (valiantly, really) to do his job, and doesn’t ask any dumb questions. He appreciates it.

“Happy holidays, sir,” the clerk says, as Frank hands over a $20, gets $4.46 change, and stuffs it all in his pocket. “You have a good one.”

Frank answers this with a curt nod, glances around to see the old lady in line behind him looking like she’ll hit him with her cane if he doesn’t scram and let her pick up her Geritol or what-fuckin-ever, and offers her a too-polite nod. “Ma’am.”

With that, and her eyes burning holes in him as some hooligan who is definitely Up To No Good, he makes his exit and tries to decide where would be the best place for an impromptu triage center. He could take advantage of that other ubiquitous Manhattan institution, Starbucks, though they’d probably get real precious about allowing him to use their bathroom if he didn’t buy one of their godforsaken overpriced drinks. Nothing else is coming to mind, however, and he could use some coffee. He crosses the street to the nearest one – they’re open until 9pm, it’s 8:23, he’d better not take too long – and goes in. It’s mostly empty by now, though there are still some hipsters bunked down with their ultra-thin iBooks and busy pounding out the Great American Novel or whatever they write these days. At that, Frank almost leaves again, but his side really fuckin’ hurts by now, and beggars can’t be choosers.

He buys a small (or ‘scuse him, tall) black coffee. The barista asks for his name. Frank says, “Pete.” Digs out the change from the drugstore and pays, sits at a corner table and sips for a few minutes, then gets up and heads into the bathroom.

Frank shuts the door, pulls out his kit, and shrugs his sweatshirt off over his head. He gets a look at the wound and has to admit it’s maybe a little worse than he thought. Thirteen bucks’ worth of medical supplies from Duane Reade is going to have to cut it, though, and Frank sponges off the blood, throws the used wipes in the sanitary bin, and angles his torso up to the mirror so he can get a good look at the hole. The tweezers are kind of shit, but they’re the best he can do, and he grunts and grimaces until he gets the butt-end of the bullet in sight, slick with blood. It takes a few more minutes (someone is passive-aggressively pounding on the door, and they’ll shut up if they know what’s good for them) until he finally eases it out. Wraps the deformed slug in another of the wipes and shoves it in the rucksack, as he’s guessing the Starbucks minions don’t want that in their garbage. Neither, frankly, does he.

Frank yells at the door-pounder that it’ll be a minute, and sticks himself awkwardly back together as best he can. He’ll probably need to stitch or staple it, but he’s got more stuff at home, and he’s hoping Karen will be out late. She went over to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah with the Liebermans. They invited Frank too, of course; it’s hard to forget that he literally sacrificed himself to a couple of psychos to save them, and his stint as the family’s weird violent guardian angel/replacement dad and husband is still something that catches him in the vulnerable place he keeps only for his lost family and for Karen. He wants to see them, wants to see Sarah, but it just hasn’t seemed like the right time to walk back in. They’ve got their lives back. He doesn’t know if he fits.

Having finished his makeshift surgery, Frank sticks one more butterfly bandage into place, washes his hands, shoves it all back in the backpack, and emerges to glare terrifyingly at the hipster who has been fighting him for custody of the lavatory. The guy shrinks (good move, man-bun) and apologizes, which Frank ignores. He strides back into the store, all dim and Christmasy and whatever, and grabs his coffee off the table, finishes it, and tosses it into the bin. It’s 8:54, the baristas are sweeping and mopping up and putting the chairs on the tables, and he nods at them too. “Night.”

It’s even colder by the time he emerges, the raw wind slapping at his cheeks, and he wonders if he wants to walk the rest of the way back to Karen’s place, or if he’ll just get the damn subway. Not the weirdest sight New York has ever seen down there at this hour, but he does still have a lot of guns in his bag, and he doesn’t want some nosy-ass transport cop deciding he wants to make quota for the night. Frank decides to walk.

It’s about twenty minutes until he turns into the street where he has spent the overwhelming majority of the past four months, to the point where both of them have implicitly acknowledged that it’s not likely he’s going to move out. Frank has his own cubby in the bathroom, buys half the groceries, takes his turn on the chores, likes to make dinner for Karen sometimes when she gets home from work, and he knows damn well that he doesn’t want to live anywhere else. Or if he did, only if she was there. He needs her, needs her around, needs her there, whatever unspoken relationship they have, where they live together and sleep together and otherwise act like a couple in private, but still have not talked about it or taken it public or acknowledged it between themselves, let alone anyone else. Of course Frank is not letting any asshole get within sniffing distance of Karen again (it’s a hard job – she somehow attracts as much shit as he does), but it’s more than that. They belong together. Life, whatever it is for him now, for them, is just right when they are, no matter what else is going on.

To his surprise, Frank sees a light under the apartment door when he steps up into the hall, and he hurries to the end, then pauses, in case it’s someone in there who shouldn’t be. He takes a quick grip on his pistol, nudging at the knob, but it hasn’t been forced. When he opens it cautiously, he sees Karen’s bag and heels scattered on the floor; the light is coming from the bathroom. She’s home earlier than he expected. Shit.

“Karen?” He shuts the door and drops his rucksack with a clunk. “Karen, you here?”

She doesn’t answer, but he hears a weird sound from the bathroom, like a combination cough and sob and sigh, and it sends a sharp spike of panic through his bloodstream, the fear that she might have been badly hurt. He practically runs down the hall and finds her sitting on the edge of the bathtub, in dress and stocking feet, holding something in her hand. It takes him a few more seconds after that to realize that it’s a used pregnancy test.

All the blood drains from Frank’s head at top speed. He feels almost dizzy, faint, like the world has fallen out from under him and he has no idea how to stand upright, as if he half-wants to turn tail and run out of here as fast as he goddamn can. His tongue locks to the roof of his mouth and he puts a hand out for support, trying to muster up words, anything, but nothing is there. Why is this – how is this even happening? Karen’s on the pill, right? She’s on the pill, and they’ve only been sort-of-together for four months. Oh Jesus. Maria got pregnant with Lisa after three, told Frank that he could leave if he wanted but she was keeping it, and he proposed marriage that same day. He is obviously willing to do the same again if necessary, but if history is repeating itself – Jesus. Jesus, no. Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, no. Not the same cycle to the same violent end. He can’t. He will lose his entire mind, and this time, there will be no chance of ever getting it back.

“Karen?” His voice sounds strange and foreign to his own ears. “Karen, what the hell is…”

“I’m…” Karen takes a breath. He thinks, he’s certain what she’s going to say next, and he can’t prepare himself for it, and then it isn’t it. “I’m not,” she says, after another moment. “I’m not pregnant. If you were wondering.”

It’s pretty clear that Frank was indeed goddamn wondering, was in fact just about to have a heart attack over wondering, and he doesn’t know if this is better or worse to hear. On one hand, there is a burning, unbearable, savage relief, that they’ve escaped the trap, whatever cruel joke fate was just planning to set for them. On the other –

“Not,” he says, hoarse and gravelly, as if to confirm it. “Okay. There some reason you thought you were?”

Karen is too distressed to pay much attention to him, his dirty and disheveled state, and rocks back and forth on the bathtub rim. “I was taking my placebos,” she says, after a pause. “You know, the cycle of pills end, you take the placebos and have a period, and that was supposed to happen three days ago. But I didn’t, and I realized that there was at least one day where I forgot, and I… well, I haven’t been feeling that good recently, and tonight I was over there and I just… I didn’t… I couldn’t do it, and…”

She trails off, gripping her knees, as Frank remains frozen in the doorway. He has no idea what to say, this is far from his area of expertise, but he’s still too numb to interrupt. “So what?” he says at last. “You thought you should check?”

“Yeah. I…” Karen wets her lips. “There’s been a lot of stress recently, I suppose it could be like that. Sometimes I skip, you know, I’m not totally regular. I just… when I figure I’m going to start, I take a bunch of ibuprofen, just so I know I won’t be in pain. I don’t care about dosages or whatever. Take three every few hours. That way it doesn’t hurt. But it also means I didn’t notice right away, and…”

Frank flinches, not for any detailed description of female monthly habits (he was married, he’s not a caveman, and he definitely isn’t squeamish at the sight of blood) but just at the idea of it being that way for her. Take as much medicine as you can to make sure it doesn’t hurt, don’t give a shit, just want it to go away. Not only talking about cramps, there, and he knows Karen well enough to be sure. He runs a hand over his close-cropped hair, trying to think of something useful to say, but still can’t come up with it. He glances involuntarily at the test – it does appear to be negative, like she said, not that he thought she was lying to him – but part of him knows these things aren’t always accurate, especially very early. Maybe the question isn’t settled. Maybe the trap wasn’t escaped.

“Anyway,” Karen says, inhaling a shaky breath. “I really wasn’t feeling good, and Sarah told me to go home and get some sleep, and I had to… just on the way home, I… thought of it and I had to know right away. So I stopped off and got this – ” she waves the stick – “and. Yeah. I didn’t know you were going to be out tonight.”

Frank thinks unwillingly of both of them, probably in goddamn Duane Reades less than a mile apart, buying medical supplies for different reasons, terrified of the other finding out. He still hasn’t gotten his breath back, and doesn’t know if he will. At last, he perches on the toilet lid, still dressed in his grimy blacks, hesitant of reaching for her hand. There is still blood beneath his fingernails. Karen still looks close to tears, and he wants to comfort her, but he isn’t sure what she wants to hear. They’ve obviously never discussed the subject of children, not when they haven’t even talked about their relationship as a real and formal thing, as if acknowledging it and embracing it will set up the universe to kick it out from under them. Neither of them can really trust that it will be able to avoid the temptation. But at last Frank says, “You probably didn’t want – I mean, we’ve got enough going on right now, huh? It’s a good thing, right? Good thing.”

He mostly agrees with this, but it still scrapes his throat, and Karen lifts her head, blonde tendrils of hair falling loose from her bun. There’s another long pause, then she says, not looking at him, “No. I can’t say I really did want it. I can’t be – I don’t know that I could be the right kind of mother, I don’t… it’s complicated. If it was some other guy that I’d been with for just a couple months and this happened and it was positive, I would have – I would have made arrangements, and I can’t be blamed for that.”

No, Frank thinks, no, she can’t. He’s obviously the last person in the world who has any moral standing to prattle about the sanctity of life, and a woman has the God-given right to make her own choices about her own body. He isn’t going to open his fat mouth and step on a landmine. But it’s true that he feels something else, something visceral and tender and terrible, about the idea if it had been his. Would Karen have even told him, if he hadn’t gotten home now? Even if – or especially if – it was positive? Would she just make the arrangements, and live with the unbearable knowledge of what she’d done to him for a third time, even if it was nowhere close to being an actual kid? Jesus. Jesus.

“Fuck,” Frank says at last, since there’s still nothing else he’s coming up with, and has the feeling he shouldn’t sit in total stone silence forever. “Karen.”

“I’m sorry.” She rocks back and forth again, as he reaches out involuntarily to grab her arm. “But the thing is… Frank… I still feel that way, and I did, and I do… but there was also part of me that wouldn’t have minded if it was. I just – I thought about it, and you, and us, and some kind of real family… I wanted that. It scared me, but I wanted it, even with all the good reasons I shouldn’t. I don’t know. I don’t know if that’s enough for it. I’m sorry.”

“Hey. Karen.” He grips her arm tighter. “You don’t have to be sorry, all right? You do not have to be sorry. You don’t owe me goddamn anything, just because you think I want it. Especially not this. Jesus. I’m sorry you’ve been feeling shitty. I didn’t – I’m sorry.”

Karen looks at him, her eyes swimming in tears, but they don’t quite fall. There is a clear irony, painfully visible to both of them, that they have been living together for four months, they’re both messes in the bathroom tonight, and they don’t even really know all the reasons why. She takes him in, and a faint frown creases her brows. “Where’ve you been?”

“I’ve been…” Frank shifts his weight. “I had an errand to run.”

“The kind of errand you usually have to run?” Karen’s voice is sharp, and she pulls her arm out abruptly from his touch. “I thought you were done with that.”

“I’m done with some parts of it, yeah. But as for others – ”

“Goddamn it, Frank.” She stands up abruptly; they’re almost the same height, and she stares him cold and level in the eye. “Who did you kill tonight?”

“A bunch of fuckin’ pedophiles, that’s who!” His voice rises, despite his efforts to keep it down. “A bunch of disgusting abusive scumbags, Karen, that’s who! People hurting kids, hurting their own kids, in some cases! You gonna stand there and tell me they deserved a fair trial and a process of law and twenty years in special protective custody? Huh?”

Karen slaps her hand down on the bathroom counter, face white, except for the hectic spots of color burning in her cheeks. She doesn’t immediately say it was wrong; she can’t, and she likewise knows him too well to even bother. Finally she says, “And you too didn’t say anything.”

“It works better for us if we don’t.” Frank whirls on his heel. “Is that really what you want? Want to know every time I go out to put a bullet in some punk-ass piece of shit? Am I supposed to ask permission, fill out a goddamn request form for each one? If you want me to just move out and find my own place, you could say so, you could fuckin’ say so. Don’t feel like you have to keep me around if you still can’t stand who I am!”

“And see!” Karen takes another step, eyes flashing. “That’s part of the problem, Frank. Every time, every goddamn time, you go straight for that, go straight for that bullshit, you go straight for suggesting that you leave and I never see you again. You asshole, you goddamn asshole, why do you still keep doing that? What, do you think I’ve changed my mind overnight, that I know something about you that I didn’t know yesterday? You have to keep testing me, making sure I don’t suddenly hate you, or – I don’t know what, I don’t fucking know what? You son of a bitch. You son of a bitch.”

With that, she reaches out and shoves him hard in the chest with both hands, as Frank, surprised, utters a grunt and takes a few steps backward. She’s also caught him close to his bullet wound, and he winces, having the (accurate) feeling that she’ll be even angrier if she finds out about that. He feels like he has to fight back somehow, defend himself; he is, to say the least, not used to taking blows without retaliation. But he can’t lash out at her too much, not when she’s Karen, not when she’s right, not when he knows it. There is a crackling silence as they stare at each other, nose to nose. Then Karen says, “You want to leave, you can leave. But that is your fucking choice. Don’t make it about me.”

Frank opens his mouth heatedly, discovers that he has no good answer, and snaps it shut. He and Maria had a few blazing arguments in their time – she had an Italian temper on her, and he wasn’t joking when he told Karen back in the diner that she could be ruthless, rip his heart out and stomp on it. He also usually came out on the losing end of those scuffles, coincidentally. Any sane man knows it’s a chump’s game to fight with the woman you love, but that doesn’t mean he’s still just going to sit here and not even try to –

(Oh God.)

(He knew it, he knows it, he knows it every time he looks at her, but still.)

Karen continues to stare icily at him for several more moments, until he blows out a breath and backs down, feels like a wolf in the pack rolling over to expose his belly to the alpha, calling off the fight. “I’m sorry,” he says again, almost inaudibly. Not for doing it, of course, but for not telling her. “Sorry I was a dick.”

Karen gives him a weary, affectionate, exasperated look, as if to say that at this point in his early-forty-some years, Frank Castle could, unfortunately, hardly be anything less. She raises both hands to her head, shakes it, and turns away, tossing the pregnancy test in the trash as if to banish its existence from both of their memories. Not looking around at him, she says, “The Liebermans were hoping you’d come tonight. Sarah and Leo especially.”

Frank cringes. “Maybe you can go back tomorrow instead, huh?”

Karen gives him a searing look, as if to say that she was literally just talking about him, don’t change the subject, Frank. She steps to the sink and runs the water, washes her makeup off, as he continues to shirk there in the doorway like the useless fuck he is. At last he says gruffly, “You feelin’ any better?”

“I think it’s stress. I haven’t really been sleeping.” Karen pulls out a wet wipe and sponges off the remains of her mascara. “I just… Frank, I… no, I’m not pregnant this time, thank God, but if this keeps up, us two, together, there could be some other time when I am. I can look into something longer-term than the pill, something I don’t have to remember to take at the same time every day, since you know. Our lives can be dumb that way. If you wanted.”

Frank tries to answer, once more comes up short, and looks at her wordlessly instead. There is part of him that wants to assure her that she can do whatever she wants, she doesn’t have to ask him for permission. Another part of him can see – not clearly, not entirely, but still – some ghost of whatever she did, a blonde little girl with Karen’s eyes and hopefully her nose as well, a little girl running, laughing, calling him Daddy. The word he thought was burned and buried for good, the word that still echoes and haunts him in his dreams. Part of him feels that now that Lisa and Frankie are asleep forever in that cemetery in those child-sized coffins, Lisa’s bedecked with Disney princesses and Frankie’s with Mets gear and a United States Marine Corps teddy bear, no one ever gets to say it again. The other part – perhaps all of him, and then some – would offer his entire soul for the whisper of a chance.

“You can think about it,” Karen says, seeing his dumbstruck expression over her shoulder in the mirror. “I just… thought I would let you know.”

She straightens up, towels her face off, and turns to go past him, out of the bathroom, but bumps up against his wounded side, and he doesn’t bite his grunt fast enough. Karen stares at him narrowly, then steps back and folds her arms. “Take off your sweatshirt.”

“I’m fine, Karen, honest, it’s not a – ”

“Take. Off. Your. Sweatshirt.”

Frank thinks just then that if they ever do end up as parents, she’s got the maternal death voice down, and bites his tongue smartly on future remarks. He awkwardly tugs it off, notices that there’s some blood spotted on the bandages, and hastens to reassure her, “One of ‘em had some shitty .38, it’s not a big – ”

Seeing the thunderous expression on her face, he once more shuts up on the double, and she regards it without speaking. Then she blows out a long, ragged breath. “Jesus Christ, Frank.”

“It’s not bad.”

“I don’t care if it’s bad or not. Were you planning to tell me you got shot?”

“I was…” Frank thinks that the truth will hang him, and he doesn’t lie, but there you have it. “All right, probably not.”

“Christ.” Karen rubs at her temples. “What kind of relationship is this? We live together, we share a bed, Foggy’s eye twitches every time he tries to ask about my ‘boyfriend’ without saying the word, even Matt knows you’re here now – and we can’t tell each other anything? How did that happen to us, Frank? We used to be the only people who told each other the truth. We have some idea, we always do, but – what? We’re too scared for more?”

“Maybe.” Frank draws in his breath with a hiss as Karen’s fingers brush over the hole. “I guess I just thought you were happier if you didn’t have the details.”

“It’s not like I suddenly expected you to become an altar boy. Besides, I’ve got one guilt-ridden Catholic opposed to murder in my life, that’s all I need.” Karen’s voice is wry. “But if this – if us – means anything, then… maybe we’re going to have to talk about it.”

Frank tries to think how to answer that, and once more comes up with nothing. Not his style, to fire blanks. This time, however, he is saved from the necessity of an immediate reply by his phone buzzing in his back pocket, which is a bit of a surprise. It’s not like there’s a long list of people liable to call him up for a chat, and he pulls it out, sees it’s a restricted number, and debates a moment before swiping the screen. He grunts, “Yeah?”

“Castle, you son of a bitch.”

He grins then, despite himself. “Evening to you too, Madani. You find the little present I left for you?”

“Cut your shit, Frank. Of course I found it, that’s why I’m calling you.” Dinah sounds exasperated, which he supposes he can’t blame her for, entirely. “You have anything else you want to tell me?”

“Voluntarily incriminate myself to a government official? Yeah, I’ll pass. You’ll notice I left all the computer systems intact. You get whatever poor bastard’s job it is to look through that, see if there’s anyone else in the ring. I might even leave those collars for you.”

“You’re such a dick.” Madani definitely sounds mad, but – and it might be Frank’s imagination, but still – almost like she’s trying a little too hard. Like she knows it’s the expected response to discovering what is, no matter how good its motives, still a mass crime scene with multiple casualties, especially when this was supposed to be DHS’s hunting dog from the start. “You don’t think that the rest of them aren’t going to immediately erase their tracks and go underground, now that the main ringleaders just got executed? Change their names, flee the country, scrub their assets? You just made this operation months longer, however much more time and money it takes to track the others down, when – ”

“You’ve got the smart people, I’m sure you’ll figure it out. Otherwise just tell me their names, once you find them, and I’ll take care of the rest. Be faster.”

“Jesus Christ, Frank. I really should arrest you.”

He snorts. “Yeah. You’re welcome to try. How’s your dad?”

There’s a pause, both of them recalling that Dr. Hamid Madani saved his life a while back, and Dinah would probably strangle him through the phone if she could reach. Then she spits, “Fine. How’s Karen?”

Frank wonders if that’s something Homeland knows, been keeping tabs on them somehow, or just something she guessed. “Fine,” he says. “But you jackasses mind your business. I see any kind of tail, any agent trying to ask her a couple casual questions, you’ll wish you didn’t. You’ve been hunting those shitheads for months. How about a thank you, huh?”

There’s a long, loathing pause. Then Madani says quietly, “I don’t regret they’re gone, no. But that doesn’t mean you have a blank check to do it again. This will not go on forever, you can trust me on that. Night, Frank.”

“Night, Dinah.” He doesn’t know if she hears it, because the line clicks dead almost immediately, but he takes the phone away from his ear and sees Karen staring at him with one eyebrow almost touching her hair. He puts it in his pocket and says, “Just our friend in the government. Wanted to check in on my handiwork.”

“I didn’t know you had friends in the government.” Karen clearly can’t resist the riposte, even as she knows well enough who he means. “And it was evidently spectacular, if she’s calling you right away. Damn it, Frank.”

Frank takes that stoically, aware he deserves it, to say the least. Karen makes another small sound of distress as she looks at his side. “Maybe we should go to Metro-General.”

“Yeah, no, I’m not sitting in the ER for hours with a bunch of crackheads.” Frank can’t see that going well, though he is aware that rudimentary self-surgery with unsanitized, off-the-shelf tools could be a recipe for a nice little case of sepsis. Under her withering stare, however, he amends, “Tomorrow. We can go in tomorrow morning. Okay?”

“Okay.” Karen blows out a breath. It’s plain that she is still ferociously angry at him, but she bites her lip. “God. I’m not going to ask you to tell me everything you do, but if you come home with bullet holes in you, is it too much to explain that?”

“No. Sorry.” Frank is eager to smooth things over, and he trails after her into the bedroom as she steps in, shuts the curtains, and briskly starts to undress. It is not suggestive in any way, just the way it is when you’ve lived together a while and you don’t care if the other person sees you in your baggy sweats or naked or haggard or otherwise as a mess. Nonetheless, Frank watches her, can never be unaware of her, as she strips off the dress and rolls down her pantyhose, digs around for her pajamas in her bra and underwear. He awkwardly clears his throat. “You want me to sleep on the couch tonight?”

Karen snaps off her bra, grabs her pajama top, and pulls it on. With it halfway over her head, she gives him a tolerantly irritated look, as if to ask when she’s ever really, really wanted him to go. There was definitely that one time with Grotto, Frank thinks, but if he is trying to get out of the doghouse, he probably should not mention when he was shooting around (if not at) her and terrifying her. Finally she says, “No.”

Frank is relieved, despite himself, and wisely decides not to say anything else that could prejudice his position. He digs around for his own pajamas and changes, then waits until Karen has gotten into bed before climbing in next to her. They pull the covers up. There’s a thick duvet on, since it’s winter, and Karen has some pretty quilt, and piles of pillows. Frank settles down with a long sigh, as he still does not quite trust this comfort, sleeps with a loaded Magnum in the bedside drawer, and they lie there, staring at the ceiling, until Karen switches the lamp off. There are another few minutes of silence, until Frank fumbles out, finds her hand where it lies on the mattress, and squeezes hard.

Karen hesitates, then squeezes back, and they edge somewhat closer together, until their shoulders nestle. They don’t do anything else – she’s angry, and he’s wounded, and both of them have a sense that it might be unwise to challenge fate tonight, given what just happened. But she settles down on his shoulder, and Frank feels his heart shake a little, and sleeps.

He’s very stiff the next morning, and the wound has a bit of a funky smell when he peels the bandage off to check, and it doesn’t take much badgering by Karen to get him to agree to go down and get it looked over at the hospital. It always feels like a crapshoot giving Pete Castiglione’s ID to people, especially since they know the Punisher isn’t dead (or do they think that again? Frank loses track of how many times he’s supposed to have died) but he gets properly cleaned and stitched up, started on a course of antibiotics, and assured he’ll probably be fine. Not that he doubted that, or needed a nurse to tell him, but whatever.

It’s midday, cold and grey, when Frank emerges from the hospital with his prescription in hand (Duane Reade, here he comes again, no doubt) and there are a few snowflakes swirling in the air, though they haven’t settled. There are Christmas tree stands on the sidewalk, and carts with hot chestnuts and cocoa and popcorn, people carrying shiny department-store bags, and he slows down a few paces, despite himself. Christmas was fun when you had kids, or at least when he was home for it. He spent too many of the Christmases of Lisa and Frankie’s ultimately-too short lives calling on Skype from a tent in the desert, Kandahar or Fallujah or wherever, nine and a half hours ahead of them, while they unwrapped presents and showed them to the camera. Jesus, what he wouldn’t give to have even one of those back.

Frank breathes hard, closing his eyes, letting the human tide pass him to either side. The memory is painful – it couldn’t be otherwise – but for the first time in he doesn’t know how long, it doesn’t immediately, instinctively drive him to rage and violence. Everyone who’s ever lost someone, or just doesn’t get along with their family, dreads this time of year. Karen went to Thanksgiving dinner with Foggy, Marci, and Matt, but Frank spent it alone, as goddamn usual. Didn’t think it was the greatest idea to turn up there, didn’t want to ruin it for her. He was relieved when the Liebermans extended the Hanukkah invite, if nothing else because that it spared him trying to think how to spend the time instead. Now, though. He doesn’t know.

Frank thinks he might drop in on the group later – he’s been trying to do that every so often, try to be accountable somehow, and if nothing else, he probably owes Curtis the chance to once more chew him out for being an asshole. Curtis, though, he’ll understand, at the end of the day. He’ll be pissed, but he’ll understand. He always does.

After a moment, Frank starts to walk again, pulling up his hood and shoving his hands in his pockets. Again, however fleetingly, he can see that little blonde girl running ahead of him, excited, looking back at him to follow her. If she was real, if she was here, he doesn’t think he’d ever let her out of his goddamn sight, not for an instant. Fuck all those other wars, all those shitholes in the dark. He would not ever want to be anywhere but there, but here.

He turns in the prescription, then gets home and cleans up the place, and in mid-afternoon, changes and shaves and puts on something at least a little nice. When Karen gets home from work, she’s surprised to see him waiting with his coat on and a bottle of wine in hand. “Are we – ” She eyes him up and down, pleased but wary. “Are we going somewhere?”

“Yeah,” Frank says. “We’re going over to the Liebermans.”

Karen pauses, then looks down, biting a smile, almost as if she’s not going to let him see that, not yet. She goes into their bedroom, changes out of her work clothes and freshens up, then emerges. “Okay,” she says, almost shyly. “Okay.”

They get into Karen’s car and drive out to Brooklyn, turn into the neighborhood and find somewhere to park on the street. They get out and head up the steps, and before he knocks, Frank suddenly freezes. He probably shouldn’t be back here. Who knows if someone followed them. What if it all happens again, somehow, and this time he can’t –

Karen reaches out and squeezes his hand. Then she nods at the door. “C’mon.”

Frank heaves a breath – Jesus Christ, he wasn’t that nervous jumping out a goddamn C-130 for the first time, it’s just a door, it’s just a house in the suburbs, he’s been here plenty – and rings the bell.

There’s a pause. Then he hears footsteps, the chain clicks back, and Sarah Lieberman opens the door. The smell of something good wafts out after her, and she’s wearing an apron, but as her eyes lock on him, it all seems to fade. She blinks hard, then presses a hand to her mouth. Finally she says croakily, “Frank?”

“Hey. Sarah.” Frank holds out the wine bottle like a peace offering. “We – felt bad that Karen had to leave early last night, and we were hoping – ”

Whatever else he’s going to say is lost as Sarah hugs him so hard that his ribs creak. She’s a small woman, and he’s a very solidly built man, but he drops the wine bottle on the doormat (fortunately it doesn’t break) and Karen darts in to pick it up. Frank wants to tell Sarah to go easy, he still does have a .38 hole in his side, but he doesn’t. Instead, he hugs her back, and there’s something for half an instant – unmanifest, unspoken – that he, that both of them somehow understand. Sarah is happy rebuilding her life with David, and Frank of course is utterly devoted to Karen, and neither of them want anything different. But maybe in some other world where David did die, and Karen was fucking sensible enough to stay far away from Frank (he still doesn’t know why she sticks around, not entirely, but no good can come of asking), maybe it would have been this. Maybe Frank and Sarah would have ended up somewhere, somehow, as part of their own little makeshift family. You never know.

After another moment, Sarah lets go of him, discreetly wiping her eyes, and leans up to kiss his cheek. “We’re – ” She stops, and has to start again. “We’re really glad you’re here.”

Frank grins crookedly at her, and steps into the warm house. Heads down the hall into the dining room as Zach and Leo jump to their feet in surprise, and Leo races to hug him like she wants to win an Olympic medal. Frank grunts. “Easy, sweetheart.”

She ignores him, which probably he deserves, and hugs a moment more before letting go, and he tousles her hair and grins at her. Zach is a little more cautious, but at least the kid seems to have gotten over his wannabe-tough-guy shtick after being kidnapped by some people a lot worse than anything he could have come up with. He coughs. “Hi, Pete.”

“Hey, kid.” Frank doesn’t bother correcting him, just as David emerges from the kitchen, carrying a glistening golden-brown challah. Upon sight of their unexpected visitor, he doesn’t drop it, but it’s close, and Frank clears his throat. “Happy Hanukkah.”

David recovers himself, puts the challah on the table and covers it, then stares at Frank. After a long pause he says, “Thanks, asshole.”

They look at each other for another long moment, then step toward each other, do the bro-shake, and clap each other clumsily on the shoulder. David half-hugs him, and Frank hugs him back, even as he has a feeling that he’s probably in for a roast, overtly or otherwise, for at least the first half of the night, and definitely after the kids go to bed. They step apart as Sarah and Karen enter the dining room, David recalls his duties as a host and offers to pour the wine, and Zach offers to get Frank an extra yarmulke. He agrees, and sits down, and thinks that he had a dream like this once, a nightmare. It was his family, Maria and the kids, and David’s, and it was Thanksgiving, at least until the armed men stormed in. Half of him can’t help looking for them now. It probably will never stop.

Tonight, however, they aren’t there. Tonight there’s company, and food, and the second candle in the menorah. Tonight the world goes on, and spins softly into the darkness of a winter night and toward the beginning of tomorrow, and Frank Castle, somehow, goes too.

[imaginethewitcher]

Hey, can we maybe get an unkowingly hurtful, busy Geralt/Regis who accidently blows off the reader when the reader excitedly tried to show off something sepcial to them, and Geralt/Regis don't realise until they haven't seen the reader in a while.

The long-awaited imagine is finally there! Thank you for your patience :D

Geralt: Thelast few days were the most exhausting ones you’ve ever experienced. Dandeliontaught you every single detail, no matter how seemingly trivial it was. Youaimed on writing the perfect ballad for Geralt. So you’ve asked theself-acclaimed master himself for advice, which he generously gave. Afterlistening hours and hours about every possible way to interpret a single lineof some poet, written by him self-explanatory. However it was worth the effort.You grinned wide as you put the last full stop and stretched your arms afterthe long hours of crossing out words, crumpling up papers and rewriting versesagain and again until you found the perfect words.With a wide grin and melodic humsyou skipped to Geralt. He sat at the desk of the room filled with numerousbeautiful paintings, old books and yellowed letters. The flickering of a candlethat was almost burned to the end of its wick, enlightened his face and ahalf-filled letter. His forehead was laid in wrinkles while he starred at thewords he wrote.You cleared your throat, but didn’tget a reaction. You were thinking of showing him the ballad later, however,your determination was stronger. So you tiptoed closer to him. As whispered inhis ear a “boo”, he turned around abruptly, hands already on the daggerfastened on his belt. You raised your hands immediately. On seeing you heexhaled and put his dagger back.“That could have ended muchdifferent. You know that”, he said and gave an annoyed grunt.“I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware you werethat focused”, you said and looked over his shoulder. “What’s with this letteranyway? It seems to stress you out a bit”.He quickly turned the letter.“It’s nothing”, he replied.“If you say so”. You wanted to keepon asking, but you knew how much of a pain he could be once he’s reallyannoyed. “So, I’ve been doing something for quite a while now. It’s finallyfinished and I thought you might want to hear what I wrote”.The only reply you got from him wasone of his uninterested grunts.“You asked me what kept distractingme, you remember? I’m done with it now. Even Dandelion said it’s wonderful and‘would melt the heart when reading the lyrical syylables’”.You looked at him, in anticipationof an answer, but all he did was staring at that piece of paper and dipping thequill in ink.“Did you listen to me?”, you asked,clearer and louder this time.“Maybe later”. He didn’t turn tolook at you.“I see”, you said after a break, “Ifyou say so”.You stomped out of the room, yourcheeks and eyes felt like burning flames, only cooled by salty tears. All thework for nothing! The papers containing the most loving words fell to theground.

Geralt felt the heat from thedancing flame on his face. It was annoying, distracting from writing andthinking. Since months he didn’t know how to formulate this letter. Dandelionsaid he should ‘just write from his heart’, which was easier said than done. Herubbed his hands over his forehead. The words didn’t flow today how heimagined. With a deep sigh he got up from the chair. Another day without aproper result.“[Your name], are you there?”, he asked as he looked around the house. But theywere nowhere to be found, however, paper lied all over the ground. “Hm, odd”,he mumbled, picking them up.He recognized the cursivecalligraphy immediately, it was theirs. The writing told a heroic tale about alone witcher with white hair. The more he read the more he realized it wasabout him. The ballad ended with him being contented and finding a companion,who stays with him in united love until the end of their days.He cried their name again, but noanswer came back.“Dammit”.That was what they wanted to showhim and he replied to them with curtness. He could have slapped himself forsuch a manner. And all that for this cursed letter, which should have resultedthe opposite way. It was supposed to be a poem for them. Now he stood there,his gaze still captured by the graceful words, telling the story of them and him.Fortunately he knew where to find them, when they want to be alone or areupset.

Geralt went to the garden, seeing themsitting there with sunken shoulders, looking over the fields, which assumed thecobalt-blue of the night.“Hey”, he said in a quiet tone, “youlost something”.They shook their head.“It’s not important. I’m sorryhaving distracted you”, they replied still staring at the wide fields.”There is nothing you need to apologize for. It was my fault, not yours”.He took a seat beside them. For awhile both of them merely sat there in silence, looking over the fields.After a while Geralt broke thesilence.“I’ve read a few lines of it, but Iwould like to hear from you much more”.Now they looked up at him. He heldthe pages to them and their lighted up slightly.“If you say so”.So they sat there while [your name]read the ballad of a witcher, who is not lonely anymore.

Regis: Regishung over countless documents about a variety of statistics, scientificfindings, and anatomical sketches. He was literally buried under stacks ofpapers and books, as was the case most of the time. You opened the door to hishumble personal library. A creaking sound escaped from the old wooden door. Youhid your hand, keeping a little surprise, behind your back and walked towards himwith sedate steps thus not distracting him from working. You took a glimpseover his shoulders. Papers filled with notes in every corner.“You should take a break. I didn’tsee leaving this room since the early morning. It’s already late”, you said.“Thank you for your worries, but I’mstill not finished with the documents about herbs, that might cure variouspoisonings”. He pointed to yet another high stack of documents.You sighed with your hands on yourhips. It’s almost as if he’s addicted to work even though he has so much timeto live, work and learn.“I have a surprise for you”, yousaid optimistically, “You will love it! Believe me! Also you can continueworking later. A little break won’t disturb your studies. Take my word for it”.One book after another, one researchpaper after another, one herb after another, you collected every fact andinformation about herbs curing poisonings in a herbarium.He turned around and looked deepinto your eyes.“[Your name], I’m really not up to abreak right now. These studies are much more important than it might seem atfirst glance. They could save someone’s life, maybe even yours someday. And Ihope not to lose you, because I took a little break. We all profit from them”,he explained.He talked to you like a mother to achild, that just did something incredibly foolish. It was his way to staypolite, yet telling someone to leave him with his work alone. Your face wentred and heat grew in it. You knew he just wanted some quiet time and normallyyou didn’t bother him as he doesn’t bother you when you are busy, however, inthis case his whole work of collecting relevant information was senseless.“I’m aware of that. It’s just ashort little moment”.“Then I keep this small littlemoment for later as a reward for the finished studies”, he concluded and gaveyou kiss on your forehead, his way of apologizing.It was of no use to discuss with himfurther at this point. All your work was for nothing, an unsuccessful surprise.You left the room and banged the door. Sometimes you couldn’t understand Regis.Why he was so interested in human and their well-being and spent his whole lifewith studies about them. He has all this time for it, but you won’t be thereforever.There was one person who understoodthat struggle and that was Orianna. Tears ran down your face while you workedto her estate. It was silly, yet, they didn’t stop coming. You threw theherbarium in the grass. It didn’t matter anyway.

You knocked on the door.‘Stupid tears!’, you thought, wipingthem away, but the swollen red eyes gave the shed tears away.Orianna opened the door, already inher dressing gown. Before she could ope n her mouth, you fell around her neck.“Come in first and then we can talk.I’ll get you some wine”. She stroke your shoulders and pulled you carefully in.You tried to hold back, however, themoment she closed the door the words escaped your mouth like a waterfall.“I collected every littleinformation, every small detail about those cursed herbs, but of course he’s working.That’s all he does! I seem to be air to him. I wanted to give him a surprisewith a herbarium and he’s working continuously without taking a break once in awhile. He has all this time, all this time to do whatever he wants, but can’tspend only a few minutes with me”, you cried and tried to calm your heavy breathingdown, breathing in and out slowly. “I just want to spend some time with himwithout all this work”.Orianna loosened the hug. Her handsheld still onto your shoulders.“He knows”, she said.“What?”, you asked surprised andlooked at her with big eyes. “How do you mean this?”“You’ll see. I get you a glass ofwine”.She stepped away in her elegantattire and left you alone and confused.‘What did she mean by that?’, askingyourself, realizing you felt much better now.Standing felt like an eternity thereuntil the unexpected happened. A knock from the door was heard.“[Your name], are you there?”. Itwas Regis’ voice!You sprinted to the place the voicecame from, but stopped shortly before pulling the door. You didn’t want toargue with him. You didn’t want to have stress with him. Nevertheless youwanted things to change and be clearer about what you wanted. After moments of silencehe broke it.“I’ve made a mistake. It wasn’t myintention to make you feel as if you were naïve or perhaps even a waste oftime. My studies seem to be my prison, I have to get out of in order to spendmore time with you, the person I love. Can you forgive me?”, he talked in acalm soft voice.You inhaled the cold air. Regis’ noticedquickly were his weaknesses laid, and you were thankful for that, as well ashis will to ask for forgiveness.“I wasn’t the most understandingperson either”, you sighed, “I know how important all of this is and I admireyour sense of care. I still wish to spend more time with and not always see youburied in work”.You opened the door and hugged himtightly. He closed his arms around you. You stood there like this under themoonlight for a wonderful while.“I found your herbarium on the wayhere. Fortunately it wasn’t damaged greatly. It’ a valuable piece of information.Thank you, my love”.“I’m glad to hear this”, you smiledand nestled closer to him. “I have made it just for you”.

[kusunogatari-a]

[ SasuHinaMonth Day Twenty-Two: ANBU ] [ @sasuhinamonth ] [ Uchiha Sasuke, Hyūga Hinata, Uchiha Itachi ] [ SasuHina ] [ Verse: A Light Amongst Shadows ]

He’d considered the position, once upon a time. After his return to Konoha, what with his brother rejoining the corps, Sasuke thought that ANBU may have been a proper outlet. Dangerous missions, masked faces, and a direct hand in stopping the greatest threats to the village he’s determined to reshape.

...but in the end, he’s glad he didn’t.

In truth, he wouldn’t have minded the role. But his current path - reforming and revamping the police force - is closer to his most critical goal. That being ensuring that the village soaked in his clan’s blood stays on a better path that he and Itachi started. While his brother and the rest of the ANBU black ops confront the hidden threats, he and the rest of the police tackle that in plain sight. He interacts directly with the villagers, regaining the trust he’s lost...and rekindling his love of the village proper. Not its dark politics or string-pullers...but the people. Those who make the heart and soul of Konoha.

Besides...if he didn’t...he wouldn’t have met her.

Well...re-met her. They weren’t the best of friends, but he knew Hinata from a young age. Hard not to as main family members of major clans, especially with their similar roots and abilities. And as the same age, they’d attended the Academy together. But there’d never been that push or pull toward each other then.

And in all honesty, he hasn’t really intended it now, either.

Despite her prior position as heiress, Hinata is now mostly a regular Hyūga clan member. Advisor to her sister alongside her cousin, she’s mostly your typical shinobi. But when Sasuke brings forth the idea of their alliance extending into his plans to rebuild the police force, she takes the plan to heart...and signs up herself.

“You sure this is what you want?”

“What do you mean?”

Sasuke nods his head toward the other gathered Hyūga currently speaking with his cousin. “...this. It’s a far cry from shinobi work, honestly.”

“Well, what about you? What makes you want to do this?”

A dark eye blinks, his Rinnegan hidden under his slanted hitai-ate. “...it’s what my family did. And I think it’s a good idea - help give the village more internal structure for law enforcement.”

“Oh…” Apparently she wasn’t expecting that answer. “...I guess I...saw you as more of an ANBU sort.”

“You’re not the first person to make that suggestion. And I doubt you’ll be the last.”

“Are you...against it?”

“No. I just think this will get me closer to what I want.”

“Which is…?”

...didn’t he just tell her?

Hinata’s head tilts, looking to him with those pale eyes of hers. “...are those really the only reasons…?”

“What does it matter to you?”

“Well, if you’re going to do this...you should take it seriously. Which I can see you are. It just seems like an undertaking that would take more...motivation than that, is all. You don’t owe me any answers, Sasuke-kun. But...if my clan and I are going to be working with you, shouldn’t we know what we’re getting into, and why?”

He heaves a soft breath. “...it’s true, ANBU do a lot of good in keeping the village safe from the outside...but I want to do something more...internal. At first I thought that meant being Hokage, but...I don’t think I’m a leader. Not on that scale, at least. What I want…” He trails off, gathering his thoughts. “...when we dissolved the old council - took away their power - we made a huge internal change. It’s now up to Kakashi and his administration to build on that. I guess...I want to start small. Work from the inside out. It’s true, there will always be shadowy places and people in the hidden villages. And my brother is managing them. I could join him, true…”

Sasuke looks to the other Hyūga. “...I guess I just want something more...real. More...tangible. Observable. Konoha is more than its most powerful, influential people. I could be one of them...but I want to take that and use it to work on the rest.”

Waiting to be sure he’s done talking, Hinata smiles. “...I think that’s an admirable goal. You have a point...there’s not a lot done on a basic level in the village. Sure, genin do bits and pieces...but most shinobi handle affairs outside Konoha. Maybe it’s time we have some dedicated to what happens inside.”

He nods...and then asks, “What about you? Why give up normal missions for something like this?”

“Hm…” Considering that for a long moment, she replies, “...I think, for reasons similar to yours. I have diplomacy training - even if I’m not heiress anymore, it was still required of me. I know how to talk with people - ensure things go smoothly. And...civilians need that when face to face with those who uphold the law, right…?” Her lips lift. “I’m used to dealing with my clan. I think that, and my abilities, would make me a decent officer, don’t you think? I can stop what happens...but also address the other details, too.

“As for a why...I just think that will be more useful in the long run. It’s true, we lost many shinobi in the war...but so too has the demand for us declined since the war’s end. The world is changing. Maybe roles like this are more suitable. More...important. Those like ANBU are still necessary, but...maybe someday, they won’t be.”

Sasuke gives a soft snort. “Job security it is, then?”

Hinata replies with a look.

“Not cut out for ANBU yourself, are you?”

“...no. I don’t think I could do missions like that. I understand that what they do needs to be done, but...it just all feels a little beyond me. I prefer what’s out in the open. You know?”

“...yeah.”

Silence falls for a time.

“...well, I guess it’s good we’ve got our alternative, huh?”

She smiles. “It is. I’m excited to get started! But also a little nervous...strange, isn’t it? You’d think after a war like the last, nothing could really phase us. But...I don’t know. It’s still a little daunting.”

“Hn...our scale of normal might be a little skewed after all that, but we’re still human. Still have our own doubts and fears. But you’ll do fine - you’re a capable shinobi. This work might have a slightly different tone to it, but something tells me it’s right up your alley.”

“Oh...well, thank you. I guess there’s only one way to find out, huh?”

His only reply is a nod.

While the work they garner in the months that follow is nothing as prestigious or respected as others, the pair find themselves immersed in just what they wanted. It’s not long before the new police force builds a shining reputation, the combined clans’ efforts rewarded as civilians and officers foster a mutual respect and camaraderie. Konoha’s streets have scarcely been safer, nor its people as content.

“It looks like the UHPF is doing fine work.”

Turning to his brother, Sasuke lifts a brow. “Heard that, did you?”

“I did indeed.”

“Funny, never hear much about yours.”

Itachi chuckles, ruffling Sasuke’s already-untameable locks. “...I think that’s as it should be, don’t you think?”

“...guess you’re right.”

     Word count: 1222      Cumulative: 28,198      Blugh, this prompt gave me trouble. While I do like the idea of Sasuke in ANBU, I don’t really have a verse for it, nor Hinata. So I struggled with how to incorporate this prompt. Tbh I’m...not too fond of this piece, but it had to get done. I’m already behind OTL So, apologies if that sort of came through in the writing, but I don’t think I could have done much better with this particular prompt =/      Probably won’t get today’s piece done today - too much to do otherwise, on top of a headache. But I’ll do my best to catch up when I can~

[rerwby]

Volume 5 OST

I don’t normally have such verbose opinions on the RVVBY music (it’s like writing a review for fiberglass insulation) I managed to sit down and listen to this album the whole way through. My feelings on these tracks feels like a culmination of all my feelings of previous RVVBY music. I won’t try to be lengthy about this but I got some solid thoughts.

First of all, can we just collectively agree to stop making every fucking RVVBY song put on Youtube use fan art? Like can we just get a solid fucking static picture of the volume cover art maybe? I’m sick of the mediocre ship art used for goddamn everything and it looks incredibly unprofessional. Also since these are RT fans you know they don’t give a flying fuck about credit.

The Triumph Not to kick this off on such an upbeat note but this is one of my favorite OP’s. Maybe my favorite. Maybe. I could not fully appreciate this song when the episodes were coming out because the opening itself was the biggest trashfire to come out of this show. Like, sorry I can’t get hyped up on 10 seconds of Ruby and Ren and Jaune sitting on a couch. Listening to it alone though? Big improvement.

Jeff Williams does this thing where he’s clearly way too proud of his proud choice and rhymes, and usually lines end with a big focus on stupid vernacular. Trust me, this will come up later. The Triumph manages to avoid that. This Will be the Day does as well because it’s a pretty hammy song with a better, more consistent tone. “Back to reality, back to the show” is an awful, terrible, horribly ironic line in the context of Volume 5, but it’s not as in your face as it could be, so it gets a pass from me. I also think “That’s when you learned you were messing with gods” is awesome, sorry. It could be more awesome if these characters like, seemed more like gods? And they don’t? So eh.

Then the second verse happens and it calls back to the first with “Yeah I’m a girl but I’m also a god” and I’m like, oh, so you’re just gonna- oh, okay then. Yeah let’s just beat the one good part like a dead horse, sure. That really ruins the song for me ngl.

It also manages to avoid the formulaic trend of post-second verse slow sappy breakdown. Time to Say Goodbye and Let’s Just Live do that and it gets old after a while. If you’re gonna give me hype music then stick with it. Not that Let’s Just Live really hypes you up.

Overall it’s like a 7/10 for me because it has a good pace and it doesn’t scream “look at how clever I am!” at every turn.

Ignite The song I was most excited for and the most disappointed by. I wrote about it here and I’ll try not to do anything more than summarize what I said there.

It’s obnoxious and the lyrics are way too dumb. Not funny dumb, not hammy dumb, nope, just dumb. It’s not even in the style of Yang’s usual dumbness, which by all accounts should now be under Armed and Ready’s foot since that is now the prime Yang theme. The major problem is how obvious these issues are. Like you can’t not hear how bad the writing is.

Then Lamar comes in, and I usually enjoy him since, like I said above, he brings with him some hammy, corny lyrics that manage to be fun. But he’s phoning it in here. He’s mumbling and tripping over his own words. God I didn’t even understand what mumbling truly sounded like until I heard that verse.

4/10 and I hate to write that on a Yang theme but this song is everything wrong with these soundtracks.

Path to Isolation Which brings us to my favorite annual game of “Count How Many Times a Weiss Song Uses the Word ‘Mirror.’” Spoilers: it’s a handful.

It’s fine. Weiss songs have always been fine. The worst thing I can say about them is that you have to dredge through their slow-ass, repetitive openings to get to the good part. 5/10

All Things Must Die aka “Slow And Brooding Villain Song That Turns Into a Rock Anthem #5″ aka “Sacrifice And Divide Did It Better But Even They Were Only So Good” aka “We’re Not Even Going For A Subtle Title Here.”

I don’t even know whose perspective this is sung from anymore. Like Cinder is our designated villain song candidate but she has like no autonomy this volume so that falls flat, meanwhile Salem still has no clear motivation. Hazel and Adam might be the most developed(?) bad guys this volume but this song has nothing to do with them. 4/10

This Time (From Shadows Part II) I’m writing about this one before Smile for a reason.

A song called From Shadows Part II deserves better, lol. Also given the fan art uses on the version I found posted, this is a Blake+Sun song? I don’t know. It starts with the beautiful piano solo from the original which was godlike and relaxing and also dramatic.

Lyrics are just shitty but in a shocking twist they’re hard to hear other than THIS TIIIIME in the chorus which...I’m fine with. I’m legit convinced that the fewer lyrics you can make out in these songs, the better. This all sounds rather nice and has a good flow to it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s kinda just trash. Absolute filler. Fluff. Churned-out melodrama to keep the White Fang kindle going.

Also I guess in hindsight it’s weird to have Jeff singing here since this song is supposed to represent Blake moving on with new resolve. Like before it was clearly Blake and Adam singing, but now it’s Blake and...Sun? Adam again? Like some non-canon reformed Adam? Idk. At least it’s tonally a good contrast to Part I. It’s easy to listen to the song without focusing on the lyrics which is rather soothing, but it’s still nonsense. 5/10

Smile (From Shadows Part 0)

No yeah I made that part up, but I think this song is a better From Shadows Part 0 than This Time is a Part II. I’m dead serious. They gave us an Ilia song and made it more interesting than her character is in volume 5, if not extremely on the nose.

Because my god, it’s on the nose. It’s just Ilia’s backstory about blending in to avoid all the pain your oppressors brought you and biding your time until you can rip the smiles off their faces...oh I don’t think that’s how Ilia’s backstory went. This is much darker. Very Count of Monte Crisco and dare I say actually interesting. It makes Ilia sound way more compelling than Blake while also making her out as a foil to her. Except I don’t know why the fucking hell the character presented in Smile would ever join the White Fang, especially under Adam’s authority, and then follow him so blindly. But I guess as of last volume’s OST we should be use to that disconnect between show plot and music lore.

7/10 for being accidentally interesting.

All That Matters

It’s....fine? Fine-ish. Obligatory slow and sappy song because ofc. Casey at least sounds like she’s in her comfort zone. It just doesn’t mean much to me.I guess it’s the theme of the girls being back together but I have my own issues with that, which is mainly that three of them were already reunited halfway into Volume 5 and it was only Blake’s arrival that really pushed them into sappy territory.

5/10 it’s not bombastically terrible enough to merit a lower score and not interesting enough to be higher.

I’m Her Daughter After All - RVVBY Volume 5 Official Score

I don’t know why this song is here because it’s an actual non-lyrical official part of the soundtrack, which is mind-blowing. You’d think Jeff was contractually obligated to have his blood’s voices dip their toes in every track.

It’s a nice medley of Yang’s themes, namely I Burn and Armed and Ready. It also makes you appreciate how Yang’s musical themes have actually evolved, unlike those of the other characters. Why do we have this Western thing going on? Qrow had it too in Bad Luck Charm. I don’t mind it since I think it’s kinda neat, but 6/10 for being a random score track.

Mayday! Lancers! - RVVBY Volume 5 Official Sc- wait

They did the score thing again. I don’t know why. I also forgot the Lancer scene actually happened in Volume 5 until I heard this. Like, Weiss did so little in Volume 4 that I’m attributing stuff that happened in V5 to last volume.

It’s fine? It’s nice to have a non-lyrical Weiss song, actually. 5/10

Armed and Ready ie The Appeal Of The Original Was Lost On Us

This song did not need a remix lol. Armed and Ready is actually damn good, is a great proper evolution of Yang’s theme that successfully moves her out of the shadow of I Burn, and was a really, really good climax to her recovery arc. This turns it into a dance remix, which ironically is the exact sort of thing the original moved her character away from. 4/10

Gold (Acoustic)

As I listened to this I realized it wasn’t just the original vocals played over an acoustic cover; Casey actually re-recorded the song. That’s blowing it out of the park for a RVVBY remix. Also it’s like, good.

I always liked Gold for whatever reason. I just thought it was uplifting and it did the nice thing where the lyrics are simple and flow well. The loud instrumentals had me unsure if it made for a good complement to the lyrics or if it was just a bad choice. This just sounds wonderful. Most importantly, it makes you really appreciate Casey’s singing talent. More than anything, she sounds absolutely comfortable singing this song. No stressed notes, no weird word choices, no ham. This is just a nice song and it’s my favorite on this album. 8/10

Let’s Just Live (Remix) “The Obligatory OP Remix Oh God Triumph Is Gonna Get This Treatment Next Year

It doesn’t go above my expectations but I like the new instrumentals. Reminds me of Stickerbrush Symphony. I think it’s much more fitting than in the original and is a true improvement on it. 6/10

The final issue I have with this album is this, and it involves some statistics. This is a 12-song album. That isn’t strange. But here are some numbers for you:

Ruby Songs: 0 Weiss Songs: 2 Blake Songs: 1 (2 if you count Smile) Yang Songs: 4 Remixes: 3 Scores(?): 2

Just to put that in front of you. Remixes comprise 1/4th of the album, glorified scores are 1/6th, and Yang received 4 whole slots (one-third of the album!) while Ruby, the protagonist, got absolutely none. Nothing in this album is about just Ruby, and I think she kind of deserves that. I mean she did nothing this volume so whatever, but we didn’t even get Glorious Score Track Of Jaune Healing Weiss so that’s super strange. They didn’t even shaft her in lieu of anyone, she was just left out.

[weirdponytail]

“The Lucas Problem” pt 1 (Huntik Fanfiction, SnT drabble)

(A/N: Part one of that Lucas drabble I’ve been bashing out. Everyone is a little OoC, Lucas is a rude and grumpy jerk, and Zhalia sets him straight about toying with the Fears brothers abandonment issues. Dante is just as protective of the brothers as his girlfriend is, and Lok and Sophie take their roles as ‘big happy family don’t mess with us’ quite seriously. Feel free to critique the parts with the Casterwill team, I’m still very shaky on how to write them. :3 cheers!)

THE LUCAS PROBLEM

It was a rather crowded week at the Venice Casterwill Townhouse.

See, there had been a bit of emergency remodeling at Dante’s house. The various attempts by Blood Spirals to break his home defenses had, in a final cosmic act of petty vengeances after their defeat, managed to collapse the shields two weeks after the defeat of the Betrayer.

And it also collapsed part of the plumbing. So until further notice, Dante and Lok were crashing at Sophie’s place.

To make it even more crowded, not to mention slightly awkward for Harrison, Zhalia had appeared with the Fears boys. She had an order from Foundation HQ to move out of her apartment because of multiple threats on her and Harrison’s lives. Due to a few being anonymously sent from what appeared to be low tier Casterwills and even a few Foundation foot soldiers, not to mention the remaining Blood Spirals, the former spy thought it best to take refuge with the actual Casterwill leader.

With Sophie’s influence and protection, Zhalia would actually sleep a little better than in a hotel, knowing that any carried out threats from Casterwills would be met with something they feared worse than death: Excommunication. Harrison would be safe with the team and Zhalia watching him until they found a suitable apartment that would quickly be rendered safely invisible via ‘Does Not Exist’ Foundation blacklisting.

Then Lucas showed up, Dellix and Lane at his heels. “Family time,” he had said. Though honestly, it looked as if one of the other Casterwill elders had pinched his ear and told him to get to know his sister a little better now that they weren’t in danger of being shot at every few minutes. Seeing as Sophie hadn’t heard a word from her brother since the final conflict, it came as quite the surprise.

The team had all groaned a bit when they heard that Lucas was going to be around. Sure, he was a little more tolerable than when they first met, and everyone was quite fine with Dellix and Lane hanging out, but Lucas was still just a tick below insufferable in his high and mighty attitude. Even Sophie was nearly fed up with him by the third day of his visit, biting back some rather unladylike language she had learned from Zhalia whenever her brother sneered or commented on how LeBlanche’s way of cooking wasn’t exactly how a ‘proper Casterwill’ would have done it.

Poor Harrison and Den caught the brunt of the young man’s rudeness. Just bordering the edge of statements that the original Huntik team could justifiably call him out for, Lucas took nearly every opportunity he saw when around the boys to make snide comments about traitors and his team’s successes in hunting down the remaining Blood Spirals. Once he learned that they had grown up in an orphanage, instead of eliciting empathy as someone who had also lost both parents, Lucas seemed to view them with even more disgust than before.

Dellix and Lane, on the other hand, were near perfect houseguests. They helped with meals, joined in on any group activities the Huntik team happened to have going on, and were all around funny and enjoyable to have in the Townhouse.

‘The Lucas Problem,’ as LeBlanche had stiffly called it in a private conversation with Sophie one evening, reached a head by day four.

It was nearly lunchtime, and LeBlanche and Cherit had offered to make a refreshing summer meal for the group. Everyone else was gathered in one of the Townhouse’s split reading and media rooms. Dante and Zhalia were at one of the tables, scrolling through various activity reports and mission offers on their Holotome and Technomicon respectively. The younger two-thirds of the Huntik team was playing low volume video games on the massive TV that graced the wall above the fireplace. Dellix and Lane had taken the last remaining seats at opposite ends of the couch, cheering on whoever struck their fancy as they waited for a chance to swap in.

Lucas had decided to grace everyone with his presence half an hour ago, taking up one of the armchairs that tilted away from the television to read one of the Casterwill manuscripts he had dug up from the library shelves. Lok, ever good natured even to wet towels like Sophie’s brother, had invited Lucas to join them for a round but had been shot down more harshly than even Zhalia had managed before her betrayal. Dellix and Lane had quietly apologized, and soon it was all forgotten as the next match got underway.

Forgotten, that is, until it was time to pick a new game.

After three hours of Left 4 Dead co-op and verses, the play style was getting a little stale. Sophie opened up the cabinet filled to bursting with games for various consoles– all bought after much pestering from Lok and then Den later on– for them to peruse and was immediately mobbed by the Fears brothers.

“Smash Bros Brawl!” Den crowed, snatching the case from the shelf. “This’ll be great!”

Harrison shoulder checked his elder twin to the side, an impressive feat for such a boney boy. “No way! You know all the exploits!” He picked up the battered Game Cube case for the earlier version of the classic game. “Smash Bros Melee!”

Den’s eyes narrowed as he straightened from where Harrison had shoved him. “Brawl.”

Harrison bristled right back. “Melee!”

“Oh dear.” Sophie sighed. Lok grinned widely and patted the empty space on the couch beside him. “Here they go again.” The Casterwill heiress sat beside her boyfriend and leaned against his side. “You’d think they would have let go of this sort of thing after nearly killing each other.”

“Sophie, I gotta tell you.” The mirth was evident in Lok’s voice as the growled stand off between the twins grew to shouting. “When you actually grow up with a sibling…sometimes you don’t ever grow out of this kind of thing.”

“Hey.” Zhalia didn’t even look up from her Technomicon. It was nearly three weeks after the final battle with the Betrayer now, and she had learned to let Den and Harrison settle their differences in whatever way they saw fit. Taking sides or shutting their arguments down just led to miniature replays of the night the two had been separated, and brought up feelings of abandonment and betrayal. Letting the boys duke it out to vent their emotions over the trauma of the previous months ended up being the healthiest option she and Dante had found so far. “Keep it to an unpowered level, guys. I’m not cleaning up another busted window with you two.”

The twins grunted in acknowledgement and had the respect to place their argued game cases in the moderate safety of the cupboard…before launching at each other and ending up in a scrabbling knot of limbs and teeth and nails as they viciously wrestled on the rug in front of the fireplace.

Dellix and Lane had become used to the occasional spat between the two brothers during their visit. They sat back with Lok and Sophie on the couch, watching with amusement as the boys used every dirty trick available to them in attempts to gain the upper hand. The noise level increased exponentially, echoing down the halls and filling the room with mangled hybrid sentences of English and Dutch swearing.

All of a sudden, Lucas’s voice cut through the din.

“If you two don’t be quiet and act like civilized human beings, that woman is going to take you back to where she found you and bloody leave you there! I’m trying to concentrate!”

Lucas looked rather smugly satisfied at the abrupt silence his words had brought.

If he had taken the time to glance up from his musty old book he would have seen what a massive mistake he just made.

Den and Harrison had both frozen in place, wide eyes locked together in a look of shock and deeply ingrained fear of losing their home again. Sophie and Lok were both on their feet, and despite Lok holding Sophie back with a hand on her shoulder as she shook with tight lipped rage, the Lambert boy had blue sparks flicking off his clenched fist.

Dante’s glare was literally as powerful as fire. No one had noticed, but a tiny flame had burst to life on the table, which he had quickly smothered with his palm before turning his smoldering gaze to the elder Casterwill.

Even Dellix and Lane knew that their commander had crossed a line. The dark skinned swordsman subconsciously moved his hand to the sheath that rested against his knee, feeling the tension in the air thicken to a nearly unbearable level. Lane shifted uneasily as her fingers drifted to the amulet at her neck, ready to call Wildwood Druid at a moment’s notice if things seemed out of hand for her larger counterpart.

Zhalia had stopped at the sound of Lucas’s words, finger hovering over the final keycode rune to unlock the database entry she needed. If Dante seemed angry, then the woman across from him was at a level well beyond rage. She was at a point that surpassed any outward betrayal of the emotion, face deadpan as she slowly closed the lid of her Technomicon and stood.

Her voice, low and just barely containing the pure feral wrath that only Dante could feel rolling off her in heart crushing pulses, cut through the heavy silence like a razor bladed knife.

“Lucas. Sparing match. Outside. Now.”

Lucas waved her off, still engrossed in his book. The very idea of fighting Zhalia seemed to bore him. “I’m in the middle of a manuscript. Maybe later.”

The Casterwill elder let out a yell of surprise when an unknown assailant grabbed a fistful of his shirt on each shoulder and roughly yanked him over the back of the armchair, manuscript flipping from his hands and sliding across a nearby table. Dante wrenched the younger man around to bring him eye to eye, moving his grip to clench bunches of fabric so tight under his throat that it forced the Casterwill to lift his chin so he could keep breathing normally.

In an icy wave of realization, Lucas had the distinct feeling that he was looking a very angry, very protective, and very deadly lion in the eye.

And all that anger was focused on him.

“It’s rude to turn down a dance from a lady.” Dante growled. “But at any rate, she wasn’t asking, Lucas.”

A white steel sword suddenly appeared at Dante’s throat. In a flash Zhalia was at her partner’s side, and put herself between the bristling Dellix and seething Dante. Unafraid, she pushed the back of her hand against the flat of the blade, ready to deflect any ill-advised movement against her boyfriend’s neck.

“You had better put this away before I make you eat it, Dellix.” Zhalia’s soft voice held the fine edge of what was very much not an idle threat. “I’ve got nothing against you or Lane. I just want a chance to give your little leader a lesson in manners on the sparring field.”

“Oh, he’ll fight you alright.” The locked together foursome looked over when Sophie cut in. “Lucas, you went too far. This match isn’t a suggestion, it’s an order. From me.” Her green eyes flashed. “Dellix, Lane. Stand down. Zhalia and Lucas, you both have ten minutes to prepare. Meet in the courtyard and we’ll discuss the rules of the match. Dante’s referee.”

At the Casterwill leader’s command, Dellix stepped back and sheathed his blade, though a little reluctantly. Dante kept his gaze on Lucas for a long, tense second before shoving the young man back and letting go of his shirt.

As the Huntik team gathered itself up to head downstairs, Zhalia took a moment to slip past Lucas, getting very much in his personal space.

“I’m going to mop the floor with you, kid.”

Lucas was sure the woman had hissed those words in his ear as she passed, but hadn’t even glimpsed her lips moving. Despite the disturbing finality the statement had, he straightened his shirt and marched off to retrieve his amulets.

He was a Casterwill, after all. And no one would defeat him on his own ground.

(posting this on ff.net tomorrow morning because my eyeball is trying to explode. Friggin migraines, man...)

[minimus-ambus]

ok so this is what i think’s gonna happen with the idw reboot

it’s minimegs, minimegs is gonna happen

(or, i started speculating in the discord and it built into this, i have a Google Doc and everything) 

Ok so all of IDW canon happened, but then Unicron came and they have no way of killing him so it seems like the end, so many bots are dead and it’s super sad

Then Primus is like aw dang this sucks, i can help but ur not gonna like it

And the remaining bots which include a v damaged OP are like we’ll do it

Primus is like one of y’all has to give up ur life so the universe will be reset cause that’s the only way i can stop Unicron, i can’t attack or affect him directly but i can change the universe

Optimus is like i’ll give myself up (partially because he’s already kinda dying but also cause he’s a self-sacrificing dummy) and Primus is like Ok and resets the universe

So the few bots who survived Unicron retain their memories but their frames are slightly altered, less visually complex, more,,,,,, cartoony.

And oh shit it’s Transformers Animated now!!!!!!!!!!

Cybertron is fine but they don’t have a Vector Sigma, instead they have the Allspark

So all the sparks lost to Unicron and before then have returned to the Allspark, but the survivor bots don’t know that yet. They set about repopulating Cybertron with the Allspark (not like that ya nasties, get ur mind outta the gutter)

some of the tfa bots are completely new, some of the bots are reincarnated but don't have memories, and a few bots survived Unicron and are the same IDW selves

like Ultra Magnus is still idw Magnus, but he's more hardened and colder because of all the time that's passed (and how much he misses his friends)

tfa OP is reincarnated OP but he doesn't have the memories, but sometimes he gets weird dreams :O

in this verse Ultra Magnus lives after the attack on him cause he's still secretly Minimus,,

and when he sees OP return from earth with the Allspark in a container that looks a lot like the Matrix he's like >:|

No wait forget that last part i gotta make it More Gay

on tfa Cybertron when Magnus is ruling there are reports of a swirling portal that doesn't look like a groundbridge…

Magnus goes to see it himself and idw Megatron emerges from the portal

he recognizes Magnus even with his changed appearance and is happy to see him, while Magnus is just. Frozen

it's very gay and sad cause Magnus has lost all of his friends and never thought he'd see his Megatron again

Megatron meanwhile has no idea that Unicron happened or about the changes to cybertron, he just knows he's been gone for a long time but Magnus is still here!!!

Magnus is dumbstruck for a moment but then he goes “uhhhhh- Dominus, my friend! Always making such extravagant entrances…”

and Megatron's like ????? cause what

Magnus gives him a look and mouths go with it to him

there's probably some trouble with idw megs looking like tfa megs but Magnus manages to keep him from being arrested by pretending that he’s some old friend named Dominus (he’s gotten better at lying over time)

they go somewhere private and Megatron is still kinda confused but also Gay so he comments on the changes to the magnus armor... Magnus murmurs that while it has been altered, he’s barely left the armor for 12 million years

Megatron's like um what

Then, the magnus armor powers down and Minimus gets out because he wants to tell Megatron about everything that's happened in the same form he knew him last in

megatron's just shellshocked by the time Minimus has explained everything

i just,,,, Minimus is telling Megatron how he sees bots like Rodimus and Ratchet and OP and they're all so much like the bots they knew but they Don't Remember Him and :c

and Magnus just.... breaks. He's been so used to being cold and stoic for so many years that seeing Megatron again is like a punch in the gut, he's overwhelmed with emotion that he doesn't know what to do with. by the end of his explaining he's trembling because primus he's been so alone for so long. and Megatron, who brought all these emotions back, is right in front of Minimus with such a soft, sad look in his optics. for once Minimus doesn't even think, he just moves forward. Minimus finally lets the millions of years of grief he's carried pour out in the silent embrace of the one mech who loves him.

Megatron stays with Magnus for the next few weeks (cause he's got absolutely nowhere to go) and if he went out without Magnus everyone would think he was Megatron (tfa megatron) and he'd get arrested very quickly

Magnus continues being Magnus but he actually finds some happiness in coming home to Megatron and being Minimus around him

they hug and smooch a lot, it's so gay

so one day while Megatron is living with Magnus on Cybertron for a bit, when Minimus is getting up he hears a crash from the bedroom and muffled swearing, so he rushes in to see Megs covering his face. He’s like “what’s wrong, what happened???”

And Megatron looks at him. And slowly says, “what happened. to my nose.”

Minimus is like “.....what”

and Megatron says again, “my nose is Gone, what happened to my nose??????” and he draws back his hands up reveal that he indeed has No Nose (because it’s tfa style now, the rules of the universe only now caught up to megs).

Megatron just looks so horrified that Minimus just starts giggling and can’t stop, this results in Megatron indignantly yelling that this is serious, Minimus while Mins is shaking in silent laughter on the floor because this is the funniest thing he’s seen in years

Magnus starts realizing that he's become harsher, and that a lot of decisions and things he did in the past were Bad (coughthejettwinscough)

so he resolves to be a better leader and a better person

that same day, this guard that was there when Megatron first appeared stops by Magnus's home; they've had this bit of suspicion centering around this mysterious mech that Magnus stopped them from arresting and called friend, and when some datapads needed to be delivered to the Magnus they volunteered

the guard steps up and starts to knock on the door when it slides open (it's a futuristic slidey door of course)

see, Magnus forgot to lock the door (he was hurrying to smooch his husband)

so this guard sees Magnus and the mech sitting on the couch with their backs facing them

the guard considers clearing their throat or something but that bit of suspicion is telling them to wait, so they partially hide themselves behind the doorframe, listening closely

to their shock, they see Magnus and this grey mech kiss, and they're like :O!!!

and then they hear Magnus call the grey mech Megatron and they're like >:O!!!!

with the moment recorded, the guard slips away silently to report their shocking discovery to Autobot High Command

but guess what happens the next day???

that's right it's that asshole shockwave

Magnus gets attacked by shockwave but since he's Minimus, he's alive (but Minimus loses an arm)

Mins has no idea what to do, because he can't just stay in the magnus armor and possibly bleed to death, but if he tries to seek medical help he'll surely be discovered as Minimus Ambus

he makes the decision to leave the armor and try to find Megatron

meanwhile, Megatron is chilling at Magnus's house when these guards break down the door and try to arrest him

of course Megatron ain't having none of that so he manages to fight them off and takes off down the streets of Iacon (imagine these civilian autobots just going about their day when a huge fuckin tank just zooms by like nyoom)

he tries to comm Magnus but he only gets static, which really worries him

eventually though he gets to Autobot Command and manages to find Minimus, who's been stumbling through the halls and trying to stop the bleeding from his arm

they're both surprised to see each other, but Megatron wastes no time in sweeping Minimus up in his arms and running, telling him that they have to leave Cybertron, now

Minimus directs them to the fastest spaceship the military has and they successfully steal it, evading autobot forces trying to capture them and shooting away into space

only after a bit does Megatron ask Minimus where exactly they're going. Minimus replies, "Remember where I told you Optimus Prime and his team was?"

Megatron stops for two seconds, then groans, "damn it, why is it always earth...."

Minimus just gives him a small, fond smile.

They spend a week or so flying through space, they smooch a lot and Megatron is worried over Minimus’s wound. Minimus always waves him off, sure it aches but the energon stopped leaking and he’s fine. He’s fine, Megatron. Minimus and Megatron spend their days planning out what’s going to happen when they get to Earth, and how they’re gonna explain themselves to the Earth crew. Ratchet already knows, but everyone else will have no idea who Minimus is and assume the worst with Megatron. So, they decide that Minimus will go to the autobots first. He’ll get medical help (something Megatron insisted on) and talk to Ratchet, and explain the situation. Then Megatron can come and they’ll break it gently to OP and the rest.

Of course it doesn’t go that smoothly though

It’s a complete disaster

it’s always a complete disaster