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maleyanderecafe · 3 years ago

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Hey there was a mobile game I wanted to recommend you check out! It’s called MazM: The Phantom of the Opera. Obviously the phantom himself is a well-known character and prime example of a yandere, and this version’s Raoul also takes on that trait a little (although it’s mostly because Christine is in a life or death situation and this he’s protective over her), he’s very sweet and doesn’t wait a moment to shower her with praise. Anyway it’s a pretty faithful retelling of the original book and was extra fun for me as a yandere-lover as you play as Christine caught in between the yandere and the actual boyfriend. I think it’s coming to the switch soon as well if you want to wait for that.

...Are you sure that Raoul just takes on this trait a bit...?

Joking aside, sorry it took me so long to answer this ask. I was originally going to watch a walkthrough on youtube, but then I realized that you said it would be on switch and since I just got my switch emulator, I ended up playing with a friend. I will say that there is a lot for me to say about this game, so this will be a long read.

First things first, I'll admit that I've never actually read or watched the Phantom of the Opera before, so I genuinely have no idea what happens in the story. This is where my friend who I was streaming for comes in because she has read the story so she helped fill me in on what happens (she's also making a yandere vn in the future which I will be spamming the heck out of because yandere vn). I think from what she told me, most of the story is relatively accurate, though some parts are changed for one reason or another (for instance, The Persian has a name in this game, but in the original, he doesn't), which has some pros and cons for some characters. Overall though, the story was pretty good for a first timer like me since it really let me experience what the Phantom of the Opera is truly about. I think the creator Mazm did a good job for historical detail, which makes sense considering their platform is about creating games that reinterpret famous stories (they've also done one for Wizard of Oz and Jekyll and Hyde which I sort of want to play), and there are a lot of different notes the player can collect in the game that give more historical insight into what is going on.

The story for the most part is pretty linear. There are some choices you can choose, but except for two, they don't really affect the story. For the most part, the game plays as a visual novel, though you do have to walk around to talk or interact with things to proceed the story. There are cats and notes that lie around the game too, with the notes giving more historical insight and the cats being used as hints in case you don't know where to go. The story is about a detective trying to find out the truth of the Phantom of the Opera at a request of a client whos husband was a victim of him, but most of the story is played through a flashback.

There are also small minigames as well that aren't too difficult, though I honestly felt like some of the minigames got to be tedious at times, specifically the one minigame where you have to press the order of the mirror combo which I found really annoying because besides the fact that I'm bad at those games, you had to do it every time you wanted to enter under the Opera house, which was just... ugh. The game itself seems much more optimized for mobile than it was for switch considering how slow the characters move (and its really slow walking to different places sometimes) as well as the fact that it takes forever to load between different scenes and there's no touch screen option for switch (that I know of). Plus the buttons for moving and pressing hints were annoying to deal with (though this could just be because I'm using an emulator). I also kept getting confused when I was playing, since sometimes I would walk around the entire opera house trying to figure out what to do next, only to learn that I was suppose to talk to someone that was literally five steps from where I spawned. The last thing I found annoying was the fact that there's no option to skip dialogue which is really annoying when I wanted to replay a specific part of the story to take some screenshots. If you play this game, it's probably better to play it on mobile than on switch.

In terms of artwork, Mazm's Phantom of the Opera is really gorgeous, from the overworld sprites to the dialogue sprites to the background and CGs. I love how cute the overworld sprites are (I think Jammes and Raoul's are my favorite, they're both so cute) and every background is really nice to walk through and gives a good atmosphere of what it's trying to show. The character sprites for each characters are nice and varied. I can always appreciate characters that have recognizable faces and shapes, since a lot of times I have face blindness when it comes to characters that look way too similar. The CGs of course are super well done and I love all of them. Overall, the artstyle of this game is very solid and I love the way it looks.

The main character of the story was Christine, who looks really good ( I really love her hair), was for the most part alright initially. While I found her to be a bit naive (because she believed that there was an actual Angel of Music when it was just... the Phantom), she was for the most part alright, and even ended up saving another character from the phantom. However, I found her actions annoying after she met the phantom, specifically the part where she agreed to stay underground with the phantom for two days and would be released as long as she didn't touch his mask, and guess what. Right as she was literally about to leave, SHE TAKES OFF HIS MASK, AND FOR WHAT? YOU WERE JUST ABOUT TO LEAVE?? The other thing that bothered me was the after being trapped with the Phantom for about a month, she is given free reign to go back above ground, under the conditions that she only goes to the opera house and at home. During this time, she's expected to break it off with Raoul, so she fakes a honeymoon with him before he leaves for the artic. However, during this time, she doesn't tell anyone, not even Raoul about what the Phantom is up to. She has an entire month, an ENTIRE MONTH to tell someone that the Phantom is likely to hurt people (as previously he had dropped a chandelier on top of the audience) and she just... didn't. Understandably, she might have been afraid that the Phantom might have heard her, but still, what is he going to do to the possible 100 people that Christine could have told about him. She could have saved people from death if something like that were to happen. Near the end, she does get proper character development and learns to choose things for her sake and not others, which was pretty nice and does stand up to the Phantom after all the trauma (and doesn't get stockholm sydrome, thank goodness), but I still think that a lot of her actions could have probably been written better to make her less naive (since apparently in the original she was about 16ish while in this remake she's about 20 so it's less awkward between her and the phantom).

Raoul is the next character I'll be talking about, because even though he is very adorable, he also has one braincell and talks about Christine way too much. My friend and I actually decided to make a counter on how many times Erik and Raoul say "Christine." Erik says Christines name 128 times and Raoul... says it 340 times. This isn't even counting his introduction and only starts up to when Erik is introduced as a formal character and also doesn't count any time he says it in the overworld. 340! My friend kept on joking around that because Raoul says Christine so much, his brother Phillipe became an alcoholic because he's so tired of Raoul talking about Christine. Raoul only really has like three things going for him: the fact that he was in the military, the fact that he's part of the Chagny household and Christine, and that's it. Throughout the story, his goals are pretty much always related to Christine, whether it be to give gifts to Christine, being worried about her or trying to protect Christine from the Phantom. When the chandelier drops on half the crowd during one of the performances, instead of being worried for them or trying to get out of the Opera House, he instead looks for Christine, who is on stage and quite literally in the safest location within the theater. I would consider him a redeemed/protective yandere though, considering his priority is always Christine (he even gives up his own family name to be with her) and he's always trying to protect her. There's a part of the story where Raoul becomes really unhinged when it comes to protecting Christine, lashing out her her friends and other members of the Opera house. He does some really dumb stuff because of the Phantom, specifically throwing away Christine's ring that she got from the Phantom (that she also literally told him before that as long as she's wearing the ring she wouldn't be harmed by the phantom and he just...?? okay??). When he's tortured in the mirror room, he hallucinates Christine blaming him for her capture, and he even cries while hallucinating that Christine friendzones him (which I though was actually really funny, even if it was a tad bit stupid). His redemption comes near the end of the story where he apologizes for being so emotional and realizing that he was a bit of an obsessive beast, and in one ending he lets Christine go to travel the world. To be honest, I don't know if Raoul would continue to be as protective and obsessed with her even after the Phantom's death, but I guess there's not really any way to know.

The Phantom, or Erik (which I know is his cannon name but it makes me laugh because he really doesn't look like an Erik) is the main villain of the story. Unfortunately, in this version, I don't think I can call him a yandere, for one simple character: Melek. Melek, as far as I know isn't in the original story, is a prisoner that Erik has after she refused to marry her. As a character, I do actually like Melek since she's the one of the more sensible characters in the story and she's the more rational one between her and Christine, but her role in the story basically deconfirms Erik as a yandere, at least in this version. For one, Melek is a blind maid of Erik that he did fall in love with and trap, similar to how Christine was, which kind of comes off as Erik being the kind of person who would trap any girl that he likes. Even if this is the case, I don't understand why Erik would keep her alive even after she fell for Christine. Supposedly the reason is that Erik wanted to make Christine feel despair and he did attempt to kill her, but Melek survives and he just... doesn't do anything with her. Honestly, if Melek were straight up not in the story, I would have put him as a yandere because pretty much all of his other actions point to a more possessive/worship type of yandere, but because of Melek it's just not possible in my eyes. Besides that Erik sort of reminds me of a chunni in this version (he's like this absolute darkness is my curse! Like people with 7th grade syndrom seem to have), it was kind of hard for me to take him seriously in certain times. He is very intimidating when he threatens Christine, but his overdramatic nature (which I know is something he's always known for, just this version is uh...) really makes him seem like a child. Erik is for sure suppose to be more antagonistic in this version, considering the addition of Melek and his general actions of possession towards Christine and his disdain for Raoul, but near the end we do see more of his story and we see just how devastating his life is from the moment of birth. I did feel really bad for him when Hatim/The Persian keeps on mentioning the prince he used to work with because its really obvious that he still has trauma from it (and he keeps begging him to not talk about his past and the Persian just... keeps traumatizing him I guess) and the fact that he was treated so badly because of his appearance, but this doesn't excuse his actions in the story. Christine does try to sympathize with him using her own tragic backstory, which Erik kind of pushes away (like bro, we're not trying to see whose parents are worse, she's just trying to sympathize with you, dang) as not being tragic. I think that Mazm did present him pretty well in this story, not showing just his antagonistic side but also his more tragic side. Sadly, like I said, I can't consider him a yandere because of the addition of Melek, at least not in this version.

In terms of other characters, I really like the trio of Meg Giry, Sorelli and Jammes- the friends of Christine. From what I can tell, they're all a bit more aged up in this version, with Sorelli being the oldest and Jammes being the youngest and I feel like they gave more character to them than in the original version. Sorelli is the head of the dancers and the dating partner of Phillip de Chagny, Raoul's older brother and she's the mature and strong willed one of the group, wielding a blade that she uses to protect her friends. I like the fact that they made her a bit more protective and in one of the overworld sprites its mentioned via rumor that Phillip fell in love with her after he saw Sorelli swing her dagger, which I thought was pretty cute. At the end though, after Phillips death, she realizes that she was struggling too hard to climb up the social ladder and decides to forge her own path. In the beginning she attempts to protect her and her friends from the Phantom, declaring that she'll stab him if she sees him. Next is Meg Giry, and from what my friend told me, she was very young in the original books and kind of scardy cat. In this version, she's a bit older but maintains the scardy cat position, and is very terrified of the Phantom. She does gain more character development during the story, standing up to her mother and the managers and overall being a more assertive and confident person, which I thought was a nice touch. Last but certainly not least is my best girl Jammes. In the original story, she barely makes an appearance, but in Mazm they made her quite literally the best character. For one, the canonical reason why there are so many cats hanging out in the opera house is that Jammes keeps on feeding them and letting them in and she has named all of them after the Opera House staff. Jammes loves to spin and has a cute animation and while she can be loud and a bit strange sometimes, she can be smart and assertive when she needs to. Jammes always pushes the other three into being better and protects them when needed (for instance, when Phillip lashes out at Sorelli, she steps in and demands that he apologize for his actions) and can be really smart at times (she's the only character that attempts to at least cover her mouth when the Phantom's fragrance, a hallucinogenic gas, starts to fill up the box seat, despite others who have been in there not even trying) and is the one who stands up for Christine's abuse as well as for the dancers at the opera house being treated unfairly by the manager as she organizes a strike against them. She also becomes part of the women's suffrage after the events of the story. I could go on and on about Jammes, but instead I'll leave a cute picture of her at the end of this entire analysis. Besides those three, I did like Carlotta, the original singing lead of the opera house. Originally, she became an antagonist towards Christine after she became the lead singer, however, she did apologize to her afterwards and befriended her once more before traveling the world. I love her interactions with Raoul because she basically said that Raoul only has Christine and military training and when he gets angry and lashes out, Carlotta glares and him, causing him to cower (this actually does happen multiple times), and I just found that really, really funny. Mifoid, though useless in the story is actually pretty cute as well, I love his bouncing animation. The last character I'll talk about is Phillip because he became meme material for me and my friend considering he probably is so tired of Raoul talking about Christine (we joked that the reason he was sent to military was so that he didn't have to hear her name again) and while he is mostly a decent but strict character in the story, his last appearance really makes him out as a jerk. I did think it was kind of weird that Phillip was so willing to let Raoul go to the Artic mission considering nobody that has gone there has ever returned, and he was rather elitest towards him, not letting him marry Christine because she's of lower

class but during his last chapter before he dies, he goes on a frenzy after he and Raoul have a fight, revealing to Sorelli that he only dated her for fun and not to actually settle down with her, which is just horrible. It's a bit sad though that Raoul only saw him as someone who tried to get rid of him considering that Phillip did raise Raoul and that his last actions were an attempt to save Phillip from the phantom, and yet Raoul barely has a reaction after seeing his body and doesn't even go to his funeral. It's really sad that Raoul didn't even really cry after seeing Phillip's body, considering that he was basically his father figure.

Overall, it's a good game to play and a good retelling of the Phantom of the Opera. I wouldn't consider the Phantom to be a yandere in this game, but I do think that Raoul is one. Thank you for this recommendation!

#asks #male yandere #yandere boy #yandere #recommendation

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skipps-writes-for-gojo-satoru · 4 years ago

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A short thread I found about Gojo's character that helps shine a light to how caring he is:

https://twitter.com/musikawu/status/1376984416485007363?s=19

Also, I actually just realized this recently after rewatching JJK that Gojo got super attached to Yuji really quickly. Gojo not only got very angry on his behalf but went out of his way to ask Nanami for help in caring for Yuji when he's supposed to be the strongest sorcerer. And at that time, Gojo made it clear to Nanami that he didn't ask him to do so due to Yuji's potential as a vessel. Gojo asked Nanami for this favor as an adult who wants to see the growth of a young man. Gojo was very precise in telling Nanami that he was looking not at Sukuna and Yuji's power, but at Yuji himself as not only an individual, but a child that needed nurturing and care. Before Yuji's death, Gojo had already even made preparations to have Yuta take care of Yuji cause he knew something might happen to him- even more development is that despite what Gojo says about himself, he's aware of his own flaws. What he appears to be on the outside is nothing like what he truly feels on the inside. He doesn't delude himself into narcissistic behavior that makes him unable to ask for help. He asks for help willingly and of his own accord- Yuta couldn't even fathom how the strongest sorcerer would face a problem he couldn't solve on his own, but Gojo does. Gojo is smart enough to know he needs to rely on others to move forward, and relying on someone means putting a certain amount of trust there. Gojo puts just as much faith in other people as he does himself, and the interesting part is that while it's more admirable to go out of your way to protect someone else, Gojo never brags about that. He only "brags" about things that will annoy the other person, but really he is only saying a commonly known "truth" in order to rile people up. It may sound like bragging- which it sort of is- but Gojo saying he's the strongest is not a lie. Him saying "I alone am the honoured one" is not necessarily a lie either. People don't call him the Strongest for nothing.

In fact, even more interestingly enough, besides Gojo, who includes Geto when people talk about the "strongest?" Despite being the definite "strongest," Gojo is the one who constantly says "We are the Strongest," not the other way around. He's also mature enough to recognize and point out other people's strengths, such as Mei Mei's, saying she is too strong to cry.

If Gojo truly was a narcissist, he would have mentioned everything else he's done for people, like stopping Megumi's sale to the Zenin clan and getting the Fushiguros financial aid. He could brag about being persuasive enough to save Yuji from execution or even saving Yuta from execution- Yuta becoming a special grade sorcerer soon after Gojo saved him is something you can easily brag about- but Gojo doesn't brag about his personal achievements at all- not in the way that demands respect from others, at least. Gojo only "brags" to tease others lightheartedly and to tick them off a little- and I don't think the demeaning things Gojo says to the higher ups can be used to show he's a narc because *many* people in Gojo's position would have said (and done) much, much worse things.

Also, when Yuji died, Gojo had become so emotional that even Shoko, who had been there since Gojo's youth, had commented on how unlike him it was. People irl really thought it was because Gojo couldn't use him as a weapon against the higher ups anymore, but reading how Gojo had told Nanami that he saw their relationship as an adult and a child makes me think differently. Something very important in the Light Novel is when Gojo tells Nanami that his students, because they are sorcerers, will soon have to "face the evil intentions of sh*tty humans." Not only sorcerers, but "every person has to bite into that bitterness, know what it means to give up, and pile up despairs to become an adult." People like Gojo and Nanami, Gojo had said, are capable of withstanding and releasing the "poison" that runs through the heart. However, the youngsters are more sensitive in that age, and "one poison could destroy their hearts" (I'm sure Gojo was thinking of Geto as he said this). That's why he wants to leave Yuji in the care of Nanami, "an adult who understands other people pain." Not that Gojo is unable to understand pain, but in the earlier events of the Light Novel as context, Gojo is faced with a mother who is mourning the loss of her child. While Nanami tries to gently comfort her and secretly find information on the cursed spirit at the same time using vague words, Gojo's words are straight forward and to the point, which startles the mother. It's not necessarily a bad things, however- Gojo's words had ended up allowing the mother to see her situation as it was without delusions, a tough love situation, so to speak, and the two were able to confirm their intel to be correct. It was Gojo who helped her to heal quicker by allowing her to realize her problem through his cutting words, but I'm sure Gojo realizes his "bad personality,"- which isn't really so bad in some cases- isn't for everyone. Gojo is very aware that people react negatively to his behavior, even if he is unable to understand just how deeply they despise him (*cough* Utahime) In that way, Gojo shows he cares very much for Yuji's mental growth, even in that short period of time, by entrusting his care to Nanami, who he comments would do a much better job than be could.

Therefore, I think Gojo might actually get attached to people more quickly than it might seem like. He also thinks very deeply and no matter how he acts, he's able to recognize others' strengths and acknowledge his own flaws- this is a key part of his character because he doesn't delude himself in his position as the Strongest. To those who think Gojo sees himself as a God, he is far from that behavior, and he is self aware enough to know that people need more to grow than just power and strength. Unfortunately, it seems most people either despise Gojo or are too enamoured by his looks to see past the surface of the more boisterous and childish part of his personality. That's likely the main reason he finds it hard to commit, too.

(More ranting 😭. There was this reddit post saying Gojo's narcissistic enough to be a more evil villain than Sukuna, that he would actually end up becoming the villain- like really??? And so many people really agreed that he's incapable of feeling true emotions that it's absurd. I really can't believe they even think Gojo has a God complex. Someone with a God complex, like most of the other disorders, wouldn't be able to admit their own flaws, let alone ask for help! The fact that Gojo even admits to having a "bad personality" is another tell against that. Sometimes I wonder if people are just projecting, but I also realize it's hard to differentiate between being an ENTP and being a sociopath because of how- on the surface- they seem so similar! But if you just dig a little deeper to look at their roots, they are so completely different it's a wonder how you'd get confused in the first place)

- 🤔

OH I COULDN'T AGREE MORE 🤔 anon here spitting FACTS. Yeah alot of people think gojo's a narcissist with huge ego but that ain't the case at all as explained above. I mean he was put on a pedestal since birth he gotta have some ego in that but that fact doesnt blind him. yeah sure he's the strongest but just one line "I'm the strongest" doesn't mean he's bragging it may sound like it but he's just stating facts he is indeed in fact the strongest in the jujutsu society. He knows he can't do everything on his own I mean why did he even become a teacher in the first place? Becuz he wants to make the next generation of jujutsu sorcerers stronger! No one asked him to do it he himself wanted to be a teacher even though at time he sucks at it.

He genuinely wants to do good not just for himself but for others as well. As interesting as the concept of Gojo becoming a villain it will never happen. Don't judge a damn book by it's cover even if it's a very attractive one hes just such an interesting character its shame most people don't see that.

#gojo discussions #🤔 anon #gojou satoru #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen gojo #jjk gojo #gojo satoru #skipps chat

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seiyasabi · 4 years ago

Text

Beta

(This is a Yandere Alpha N’Doul x Beta Female Reader! I hope you guys enjoy this :))

TW: !Noncon/Dubcon!, no stand au, sexual harassment (from the big man himself, Dio), mentions of disability(blindness)!, mentions of organised crime!, mentions of violence!, !knotting!, breeding kink!, you have no rights even as a Beta :((, !Alpha kink, !slight scent kink, !slight body horror at the end but nothing explicit!, etc..)

When you accepted the role as a caregiver, you assumed that the man you were going to watch after was normal. After all, the man was rumoured to have a trust fund, and you assumed that he was rich from old money.

How wrong you had been.

How would you have known that the man you’re helping is in one of the most feared mafia’s in the world?

You’d found this out by accident. He’d asked you to bring an expensive wine for him and a ‘friend,’ but when you walked in, you saw his ‘friend’ sprawled out on the floor, dead. That’s when he used his ‘Alpha Voice’ on you for the first time. He demanded you move into his estate, because he couldn’t risk you being a snitch.

The ultimatum was to move in, or die, and by God, you weren’t going to die.

“If you weren’t a Beta, I’d have stolen you away a long time ago,” Your hands shake slightly when you pour an expensive scotch into the blond Alpha’s cup. You’d always been sensitive to an Alpha’s scent or words, and this man’s smell is overwhelming.

“Thank you, Mister Brando, but I’m sure my boss wouldn’t like that,” You chuckle nervously, as you swiftly move away from his large form. Taking a small glance towards N’Doul, you see an impassive look on his well-sculpted face. He’s used to his boss’ crude words towards you, but the annoyed pheromone in his scent is very apparent.

“Of course he wouldn’t, you’re one of the few useful servants here,” He swishes the amber liquid around in his cup, the ice clinking against the glass making you flinch, “But, I have a proposition for you that I know you can’t refuse; you smell very… enchanting for a mere Beta. This is a known fact. The only differences between you and an Omega is that you’re level-headed and less annoying. That means that you’ll make a very good mate for one of my most trusted men,” By this time, you’d made your way to your boss, and were in the middle of pouring him a glass of a strong smelling bourbon. The blond Alpha’s words make your blood run cold, and you quickly stop pouring N’Doul his drink in fear of your shaking causing a spill. Dio’s golden eyes flash in amusement, “Why do you seem so surprised, Beta? You’ve been faithful to us for quite some time now, and I believe you deserve some comfort. If you marry him, you’ll live a lavish life. The only thing you must do for us, besides giving us unwavering loyalty, is bear him many children. The mafia needs a future generation, after all.”

You gasp in disbelief, your free hand covering your gawking mouth. He can’t be serious. You weren’t born into a mafia family, you weren’t rich, you aren’t good on the field, etc., why would he want you to marry one of his high ranking men?

“I, uhm, I’m flattered that you’d offer me such an amazing, uhm, opportunity, but I don’t think I can up and leave my boss. I’ve helped him for about two years, so it might not be very good for him-” N’Doul suddenly grabs your right wrist, scaring you half to death. You almost drop the bourbon bottle in your left hand, but luckily regain your hold on it.

“She’s right, Master Dio, I still need her assistance in my manor. She helps me write my paperwork, reads off important messages, and assists with many other equally as important tasks. It would be quite hard for me to find someone who is as trusted and reliable as she is,” He slowly releases his hold on you, gently squeezing your right hand’s fingers. You shift uncomfortably on your feet, Dio looks positively pleased with himself, while your boss looks in his general direction with an unamused expression.

“Are you both sure that you want to miss out on this opportunity? I didn’t even say the Alpha’s name yet,” The both of you vehemently nod, you because you don’t want to marry some rando to become a baby factory, and your boss because he can’t bear the thought of you being mated to someone else. “I see, what a shame. I was actually going to offer her to you, N’Doul, but I guess she can continue to be your servant if you want,” The dark haired Alpha’s scent turns sour, making you gulp in both fear and confusion.

“Master Dio, what are you implying?”

“You want to marry her, don't you? Your sweet Beta always takes care of you, she’s willing to do anything to make you comfortable,” Oh God, Dio thinks you’re in love with your boss, “And don’t think I haven’t noticed the change of your scent when she walks into the room, or how you treat her so kindly. The N’Doul I know wouldn’t have hesitated to kill someone if they found out his secret, yet you spared her without a second thought. It seems that the both of you have found your match,” He throws his drink back, finishing it with a single swig, “But, if you still don’t wish to marry, I understand-”

“Please don’t play with my feelings,” Your boss stands to his feet, his scent now overwhelmingly angry, “Of course I’d want to marry her, is that really a question you must ask?” Dio smirks at his uncharacteristic anger.

“Oh, is that so? Then I suppose I will allow it,” He stands to his feet as well, easily towering over the both of you, “Now that that’s settled-”

“Wait! I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but don’t I get a say in this?” N’Doul, who is closest to you, tries to reach out for you again, but you easily dodge his hand, “I’m sorry Master N’Doul, but I don’t want to marry you. I also don’t want any children, and I don’t want any direct involvement with the mafia. I’m fine helping you out around the house and doing my job, but I don’t want anything besides a professional relationship,” It’s quiet for a long moment, a look of hurt flashing over your boss’ face, along with an upset smell permeating the room, before Dio begins to laugh.

“Oh my, it’s so adorable that you think you have a choice. Did you forget that even though you’re not an Omega, the law still views you as lesser to an Alpha? For once, we’d be following the law in making you submit to your Alpha,” The blond rounds the left side of the table, heading straight towards you. In a panic, you try to move to your right to round the table and run for the door, but you run into your boss.

Instead of being thrown off kilter like usual, he stands firm. His arms wrap around your middle, forcing you up against him. You think that he’s surprisingly well built for a man who needs your help 24/7, and that’s when you realise that you’re just a cover. The police know that you work for him, and whenever they’ve questioned you, you’ve always said the same thing; he has no sense of balance, he needs your help to get around the house, etc.. But, looking at the situation at hand, it’s clear that he’s never needed you for anything besides his mafia paperwork.

“I think she’s figured it out N’Doul,” The scary Alpha is now before you, staring down at you with a shit-eating grin, “Though, that doesn’t matter. What matters now is that you listen to me well,” Oh no, “You’re going to marry him, whether you want to or not. You will give him as many pups as he wants, or else you’ll be punished. If you try to escape, you will be punished. Do you understand me?” He’s used his Alpha voice on you. Normally this wouldn’t phase a Beta, but you were no normal Beta.

Against your better judgement, you nod, saying a very forced, “Yes, Alpha,”

“Good. His rut will begin in a few days. When that happens, you will service him as an Omega would. I will give you some heat inducing pills, and you will take them the moment his rut begins,” You stare at the ground with a frown, and nod.

“Okay… but how will they work? I’m not an Omega-” N’Doul’s hold tightens around your ribs exponentially, making you wheeze.

“Don’t act too rash,” He scolds the dark haired Alpha, “That’s an excellent question, Beta,” You flinch at his words, and freeze in fear when he grabs your chin, forcing you to look at him, “There are many drugs on the market that can trigger a reaction from your kind. Many Alphas find it fun to break a Beta down into a gushing, cock or pussy hungry whore. You, my dear, are going to be my dear friends’ mate, which means you need to be ready for a long and hard week. If you aren’t you’ll surely die of exhaustion,” N’Doul growls at that, causing Dio to shush him softly, “So, to stop that, you’re going to go into heat as well. It’s as simple as that.”

His words are calming ones, trying to lull you into a false sense of security. But, you know better. You know that both men can kill you easily, you know that your boss could give you up, ending with you becoming a sex slave. So, to save your own skin, you give in.

“Okay. I understand.”

The next few days are a whirlwind of emotion. Because his cover has now been blown, N’Doul refuses your help with any task besides paperwork. Turns out, he’s very high functioning, and he is able to count his steps to-and-fro, and is also able to do things like cooking without your help.

Ever since that day with Dio, he’s been trying to make it up to you. He’ll make you your favourite food, dress you in pretty dresses, help you shower, etc.. It’s honestly suffocating, but whenever you try to distance yourself, one of his few servants will detain you, only to return you back to the patient Alpha.

The day before his scheduled rut, one of the female servants took it upon herself to wax your entire body. Unfortunately for you, she’s a very old fashioned Alpha, and she had no qualms in using her Alpha voice against you. So, she sat you down on the edge of a large jacuzzi like bath tub, and went to town. When your soon to be mate called for you, it’d taken all of your power to walk down the stairs without falling flat on your face. He’d known something was wrong, because your smell wasn’t as lovely as usual, and the way you walked sounded completely different than normal. You didn’t bother lying to him, and to say he was pissed was an understatement.

A low growl draws you from your thoughts, along with the heavy smell of arousal trailing from N’Doul’s quarters. Sighing in dread, you head towards your dresser, grabbing the pills Dio gave you from a small unused jewelry box. Chucking them into your mouth, you unscrew the cap of your water bottle and take a large swig, swallowing down the aphrodisiac you are forced to take.

Shuffling towards your door, you hear the male’s groaning grow loader. Is he outside your door? Grabbing the cool doorknob, you practically throw the door open, expecting to see him kneeling outside. When the hallway is exposed, there’s no one there. Sticking your head outside, you check to see if he was farther down the hall. Nope. It’s empty.

You see his room a few doors down, and realise he’s just that noisy.

Straightening your posture and taking a deep breath, you trudge towards his abode. Knocking lightly on the door, you call out to him, “A-are you okay in there?” All noises cease, leaving you in suspense. Putting your ear against the door, you try to listen in to see if he dropped dead or if he was walking towards the door. You hear nothing, and prepare to pull away, only for the door to open, making you fall forward. Two warm arms catch you with a quickness, before you’re dragged into the dark room, and tossed onto a very comfortable bed.

You bounce once you hit the mattress, only to be pinned down in an instant. He noses your throat, ghosting over your scent glands. His tongue laps at your neck greedily, trying to taste your skin on his tongue. N’Doul’s large, Rough hands grope at the fat of your hips, trailing up to your breasts. He seems to be trying to get a reaction out of you, but all you do is cringe.

The pills haven’t fully kicked in yet, so you’re very uncomfortable under the rough treatment the Alpha is giving you. Noticing this, he growls in annoyance, “Don’t act shy, Darling. I’ll make you feel good if you make me feel good,” Did he truly mistake your discomfort for timidity?

“I, uhm,” He silences you with a heated kiss, both of your spit mixing together, much to your disgust. His fingers pull and prod at your blouse covered nipples, twisting slightly to elicit a reaction. A gasp leaves your lips, as you try to remove his hands. The medicine was slowly, but surely starting to work, making your breasts more sensitive than usual.

He grips the material of your shirt with two fingers, a small snarl coming from his lips, “I want this off. If you want to keep it, you better strip fast,” You practically throw your shirt over your head, moving as fast as you can. Your best friend had given you his shirt years ago, and you’ve used it as a sleep shirt ever since.

A small smile decorates his harsh features, as he is finally able to feel your skin against his. He squeezes your breasts, loving the feeling of your fat between your fingers. You try not to look, hoping to zone out the entire session, but the rapid heat appearing in your tummy is making it very hard to do so.

“I can’t wait until these are filled with milk, your Alpha might have to have a taste for himself,” A gasp leaves your lips at his erotic words, especially when his lips connect with your right nipple. He suckles on it like a child, whilst toying with the hem of your panties. With one swift movement, he shucks them down your legs without separating from your chest.

A loud moan escapes your throat, as he starts to toy with your puffy pussy. The waxing from the night before makes you more sensitive than normal, eliciting all the right reactions. He removes himself from your chest, bringing your panties to his nose, breathing in your slick.

“Such a yummy and cute little Beta, no wonder everyone everyone confuses you for an Omega,” He licks the seat of your panties, practically cumming in his drawers at your taste, “Fuck, you even taste fertile. Does your little womb want my cum, Darling? Want me to pump a cute baby into you?” His words send another wave of heat to your core, causing your slit to gush out your arousal.

“Yes, yes please! Please fill me up!” He smirks at your neediness, and he shoves your legs apart. The smell of your arousal permeates the room, causing the large man to choke on his own spit.

“Oh my, your pussy smells so good,” N’Doul practically dives between your legs, sniffing at your dripping pussy. Your hands reach down and grip at his black locks, practically begging him to eat you out.

“Please lick my pussy! I was to take your knot,” He starts to kitten lick at your clit, causing tour hips to buck into his face, smearing your arousal over his chin and nose. He moans, loving the thought of everyone knowing that he belongs to you.

“Such a Good Girl, in no Time, we’ll have a cute pup running around. Then I’ll fuck another one into you, giving them a sibling to hang out with,” You keen at his words, especially when he inserts two fingers into you at once. He scissors them at a fast pace, sucking on your clit harshly. Your cunt gushes in your first orgasm, making your back arch and a scream leave your lips, “What a good Darling, loosen up so I can fuck you full.”

He adds two more into your cunt, your pussy sucking his fingers with an iron grip. His hips rut into the mattress below, as he brings you to a second release.

“I’m gonna stuff you full, keep you locked on my knot. My Darling Beta, my cute cumslut,” he withdraws his hand from your heat, making you whine. But, he’s quick to shut you up with another heated kiss. Pushing your knees back, he puts you into a mating press. With one hand he keeps you in that position, and the other pushes his drawers off of his hips, kicking them off onto the floor.

Lining his tip to your slick hole, he dips it in, testing the waters. When he feels your ring of muscle practically pulling you in, he can’t help but slam his entire length into you, causing you to scream out in both pleasure and pain. His tip rams into your cervix harshly, trying to access your deepest point.

He doesn’t give you time to adjust, and starts to roughly fuck into you. His heavy balls slap against your ass in a rhythmic fashion, whilst he forced your knees by your head.

“Fuck, your sloppy cunt is taking me so well. I love the way you gush around my cock,” You can’t say anything, too overwhelmed with pleasure. Your mouth falls open, eyes rolling back into your head. Pathetic moans rattle your chest, as he smashes himself as close as he can to you, “Don’t worry, Beta, your Alpha will fill you up nicely. I’ll make you round with my baby, I’ll give you pretty milky tits, and I’ll take care of you for the rest of your life!”

He picks up his pace, trying to draw out more noises and slick to help him force his way in. His knot is quickly forming at the base of his cock, and it pulls almost painfully at the opening of your slit.

“A-Alpha, I’m gonna, I’m gonna cum!” He smiles at your admission, starting to force his knot inside.

“Good Beta, cum around your Alpha’s knot,” N’Doul forces his entire weight onto you, bucking his hips even harsher than before.

His knot catches on your opening one more time, before breaching your drooling cunt. He ruts into you for a few moments longer, before his knot hardens fully, breaching the opening of your womb, locking himself inside of you.

The feeling of him knotting you causes you to squirt, your release just barely slipping past your stuffed opening, painting his abs with your cum. He forces his mouth onto yours, as his seed pumps into you in thick spurts. He fills you up so much, that you feel bloated, your tummy poking out a little bit more than normal. N’Doul Real esse your legs, letting you settle into a comfortable position, his warm hand lays on your stuffed womb.

“My beautiful mate, I’m so happy you accepted me. We’ll have the best pups, I’ll make sure none of you want for anything. Fuck, why’re you squeezing me so harshly?”

You whine in both pain and pleasure, laying your forearm across your eyes, “I think I need to go to the hospital. Betas aren't meant to take knots, and you’re currently deep in my womb,” He scrambles to pull himself out, only to yank on your womb harshly, making a small scream of pain escape your lips, and tears dot your eyes, “No! No! Not right now, oh god, that hurts so bad!”

His moment of post nut clarity, brings him to kiss your face with multiple tender kisses.

“It’s okay, Darling, we’ll patch you up soon. Maybe Dio will have a drug to make this less painful for you.”

You stare up at the ceiling with dread, the pills he gave you makes you feel good, yes, but the pain of no longer having freedom and a knotted cock in your womb is enough to make you sick.

Hopefully your kid will be cute. Because, if not, you don’t know what you’ll do.

#yandere n'doul #yandere n'doul x reader #n'doul x reader #yandere jjba #yandere jjba x reader #yandere jojo's bizarre adventure #yandere omegaverse #omegaverse #jjba omegaverse

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jango-fettish · 4 years ago

Text

3 - A Salacious B. Crumb vs Boba Fett Story

Summary: Salacious B. Crumb is an enigma. Boba Fett is seemingly unkillable god. So what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?

Warnings: Canonical Violence, Character Death, OCC Salacious

Word Count: 2744

A/N: yeah the title is another britney spears song, deal with it. this has not been edited or read over after it was written so enjoy my mistakes (i meant typos and what nots, i know this entire thing could be considered a mistake). i gave up towards the end but whatever

Tagging my mutuals who tolerate my bullshit: @a-dorin @simping-for-fives @nelba @chadillacboseman @porgnugget @cptnbvcks @blxwjobsforclones @clonewarslover55 @djxrxn @escapedthesarlacc

Gif is not mine. i got it from here.

Tatooine was a barren wasteland, with only two outcomes for those unfortunate enough to land on the sandy dunes: a slow death or a quick death. No one ever got to choose which one would happen to them, it just happened. You could be a young child, just walking around the corner and getting caught in an unsuspected dust storm, sand filling every crevice and making home in your lungs. Or you could live for years, your skin and soul withering away under the twin suns, the heat baking you slowly from the inside out until you breathe your final breath.

Or, for some reason, you could actually get lucky and survive something that should have been your end. In an instant you turn into a god amongst mortals, someone who could say that Tatooine tried her best to end you, but you were just better. That is until the ever-changing dunes decided that today would be the day and become your grave. It was a rare occurrence, even more rare to happen to multiple people in the same day, in the same place. But luck and whatever greater being they believed in was on their side. And they lived.

Salacious B. Crumb, for all intents and purposes, should have died the moment he became the jester of Jabba the Hutt. The little Kowakian monkey-lizard wasn’t built for the festering, dry heat of Tatooine. What a change from the tropical climate and landscapes of his mother planet. Nonetheless, he adapted and survived. Though there were a few times that he was almost crushed by the weight of his master, or swallowed by the great slug beast for not doing his job. The little shit was tough, tough enough to be able to stare bounty hunters, such as Boba Fett, down and laugh in his face without worry of consequences.

But Boba Fett was the type to not forgive or forget transgressions, even the same ones. The noxious laugh of Jabba’s most loyal pet seemed to bother everyone besides the Hutt. Each time he arrived back in the dais to get a new job, Boba planned out exactly how he would kill the little creature, each growing more and more violent in nature. In the end, he had three perfectly planned out executions for the little creature. He wouldn’t be able to live out his sick fantasies, at least not when the Kowakian was wrapped snugly in Jabba’s tail, stealing the small morsels of food that broke off of Jabba’s meal.

Even as he fell into the great stomach of the Sarlacc, Boba could hear the high laugh of Salacious B. Crumb mocking him. It was cut short when there was a great explosion and, while it wasn’t one of the three ways Boba would have killed him, he was glad that at least it was done. But, their destinies were intertwined that day. Both were supposed to die in the swirling sands of the Dune Sea. But the Sea had other plans for them.

Boba Fett sat atop the throne once owned by his employer. How the fates had changed in favor of the Mandalorian, once swallowed the decaying in the bubbling stomach of the Sarlacc, now seated in a position of power no man would dream of having.

But Boba Fett was no ordinary man.

***********

As he stared at the bodies flooding the chamber, celebrating the ending of Bib Fortuna’s rule over the once powerful Hutt Empire, Boba felt at ease for the first time in his life. He had his father’s armor back, he completed a quest and earned himself a new powerful ally. However, even with all that, Boba could feel the bubbling of uncertainty in his gut.

Under the safety of his visor, Boba’s dark eyes watched Fennec Shand, his faithful partner, flirt with a purple skinned Twi’lek woman. Once unsure of trusting an assassin with a reputation such as Fennec’s, who at a moment's notice could easily blind side him and take everything he worked so hard for, Boba was sure he could trust her. He had saved her life after all. No, she wouldn’t be the one to betray him.

He didn’t have to worry about any supporters of Bib Fortuna. The pale Twi’lek had made many enemies within the five years he was in power, growing greedy and selfish. It helped that Boba’s reputation in the galaxy was well known and feared. He was a god, been to hell and back. Who would dare try to challenge him?

“F-F-Fett,” a high gravely voice whispered from behind him. It was like a breeze, barely there, but he could hear it.

Boba sat straighter in the throne and tried to drown out the sounds of laughing and merriment that echoed throughout the room. The helmet could only filter out so much. He wasn’t the same bounty hunter he used to be before the pit. Though he was only in the belly for two days, the Sarlacc did more damage to him than he would like to admit. His leg, which he surprisingly was able to save, burned and ached every step he took. The heavy beskar armor just added to the additional stress. He was in constant pain, unable to fully find a sedative or pill that would dull the pins and needles he felt in his knees. His ever increasing age only added to it. But gods didn’t feel pain, so Boba didn’t either.

“Fett,” the voice called again from his left. Boba whipped his head to the side, looking in the direct the whisper came. It was coming from deep in the many caves of the palace. The voice probably travelled not that far though to get to him. He seemed to be the only one that could hear it. Part of him wondered if he was imagining things, if the voice was just a hallucination. Maybe it was a new symptom of the pit.

Great.

Boba slowly stood up, his knees cracking each inch he rose.

“Leaving the party so soon, Fett?” Fennec Shand asked from the edge of the dias, getting his attention briefly, before he looked back in the direction of the whisper. She held a bottle of bright blue spotchka, her drink of choice. “What’s the rush?”

“Want to check something out,” he muttered.

“Ah, going after the ghost?”

“Ghost?” The vocoder crackled his voice.

“Some of the boys were telling me that they heard laughing in one of the storage rooms. Couldn’t find anything or anyone down there though.”

“Laughing? What kind of laughing?” Boba asked, looking back to Fennec.

She shrugged, “Beats me. Said it was annoying enough to make them not want to go back in there.”

Boba’s hand twitched slightly. An annoying laugh. He knew quite a few people who he could easily categorize their laugh as annoying, but none of them from this part of the galaxy. Except one. But he was dead...but then again, so was Boba.

“Crumb,” Boba growled, grabbing his blaster.

“Crumb?” Fennec asked to deaf ears as Boba made his way to the hallway entrance.

The winding halls that led deep into the ground were dimly lit as he made his way deeper into the cave system of the Palace. The walls were glistening, the moisture collecting into little pellets the deeper Boba ventured into the ground. Where had Fennec said the laugh was coming from? One of the storage rooms?

As if on cue, a guttural laugh resonated in the hall. The sound hit Boba right in the gut, sending goosebumps up his arms. It wasn’t fear, but irritation that coursed through his body. Boba ground his teeth together, stomping down to the one storage room he knew would hold the little monster. For years Boba watched the little shit pick at the food that was given to him or that he stole, going straight for the dried, cured meats. His beak would tear at the muscles, ripping them into shreds before consuming the food with a hearty laugh.

Boba stood in the doorway of the storage room where the keepers of the Palace kept the dried meats. Different cuts and creatures hung from the ceiling on large hooks, perfectly still. The room had no light, other than the faint glow that flowed through the doorway. Boba’s body shielded most of the light, his shadow disappearing within the room where the light touched.

“Where are you, you little shit?” Boba growled. He took one step forward, shifting his visor into night vision.

“ooooAHAHHAHAHAHA,” the voice cackled loudly.

Boba couldn’t see anything, other than hanging meat, as he stepped through the room. His blaster was drawn at the ready, finger secure on the trigger. For years he dreamed a day like this would come. No longer was Jabba around to protect the Kowakian.

“Come on now, little monkey, how did you survive?” Boba asked, pushing a piece of Bantha thigh out of his way.

“F-Fett!” the voice called before chuckling darkly. The sound was unsettling. Boba hadn’t known the creature to speak actual words. Was it even possible? The deeper Boba stepped into the meat cellar, the greater his uneasiness grew.

“Did Fortuna let you sneak your way back in here? If it were me, I’d have put you on the pit roast the moment you showed your fucking face.”

Silence: something Boba did not like.

“Show yourself!” he called out.

A chain to his left shook and he heard a scream. He turned, but a second too late and Salacious B. Crumb landed on the Mandalorian’s shoulder, his sharp beak trying to find a soft spot to sink into. The Kowakian’s claws dragged themselves across Boba’s helmet. Salacious was laughing the entire time, the haunting noise drowning out Boba’s curses. Boba gripped the scruff on Salicious’s neck, ripping him off and threw him back into the shadows. Truthfully, Boba knew that he should have strangled the little guy there, but the nauseating laughs irritated him to no end. Boba just needed him away.

Salacious clung to one of the hanging meats, his claws ripping into the tendons. He glared down at Boba, who had fully regained himself after the quick attack. How Salacious wished nothing more than to strike again, but he knew better. He had to bide his time. Boba Fett was good, better than most if not all bounty hunters. The Mandalorian looked up at Salacious, and tilted his head to the side.

“You always were an ugly little shit,” Boba said.

It was true, time had not been kind to Salacious. The fires from the explosion took most of his fur, save a few patches on his back. His once oil rich skin was rough and dry, as were his claws and beak. The iron rich meals he received from living in the meat cellar had provided Salacious with enough sustenance to gain weight. He was heftier, larger than Boba remembered. But it was the frenzied look in Salacious’s beady yellow eyes that struck the Mandalorian.

“Fett!” Salacious cried out, his high voice rattling through the tense air. “Feeds on Fett Crumb will! Gain his power Crumb shall! AHAHAHAHAHHA.”

Being alone in a dark room had made the Kowakian delirious and wild.

“Just as Crumb did with the others!” Salacious howled again.

“Others?” Boba asked. But a quick glance to the side answered his question. In the farthest corner that the light could touch were stacks of bones and mangled bodies of decaying Gamorreans. Boba himself had ousted most of them, not wanting to rely on the pig creatures.

“You’ve made quite a mess, haven’t you, little monkey?” Boba said, raising his blaster once more.

“Fett thinks he funny. Funnier than Crumb? Never!” Salacious growled, and jumped to another piece of meat. The chains rattled and moaned under the new strain.

“You’ve gotten fat,” Boba said.

Salacious grin was sinister and showed what rotting teeth he had left, “Fortuna got fat! Why not Crumb?”

“I’ll give you that.” Boba watched as Salacious jumped to another, closer, piece of meat. “Watch it, little monkey.”

Salacious went quiet and still, his head lurching to the side. His tongue flicked out from his beak, coating the tip in spit. He began making incoherent noises, babbling to himself.

“How are we going to do this?” Boba asked, “Though, to be honest with you, little monkey, I’ve already made up my mind.”

“Crumb told Fett already!” Salacious cried out, “Crumb will eats Fett!”

“Not a great plan.” Boba took a step forward causing Salacious to hiss. “I’ve dreamed of this moment for a long time.”

Salacious’s body curled back, his eyes flickering to the piece of meat hanging to the left of Boba and Boba himself. After a few seconds, his angered look rested on Boba. He had made his decision. He lunged forward, claws ready to attach themselves into whatever piece of Boba they could. Salacious was fast, but a blaster was faster.

And with Boba Fett at the end of the blaster, you are sure to lose.

Salacious howled in pain, falling just before Boba’s boots with a dull thud. Smoke rose from his chest from where the blaster shot landed. He coughed out pathetically, blood spattering onto Boba’s boots, before stilling. Boba counted to three silently and then slowly began to bend down. His knees creaked and groaned with the chains.

Before he was in a full squat, Salacious’s eyes opened wide and he swatted out at Boba. His claws connect with the beskar of Boba’s chest armor, scratching away the forest green paint in four jagged lines.

“Fuck,” Boba shouted, jumping back.

“F..F...Fett,” Salacious said weakly, coughing once again. His chest moved erratically before completely stilling. His glossy eyes dulled over and his tongue hung limply out the side of his mouth.

This time, Boba waited longer than three seconds, and this time, he didn’t bend down to check to see if Salacious was really dead. Boba nudged the limp body with the toe of his boot, making a satisfied noise when the body simply rolled to the other side, blood seeping out from underneath.

By the time Boba emerged from the depths of the winding cavens, the crowd he had left doubled in size. He found Fennec easily in the mass of bodies, lounging in a large chair with a jug of spotchka, and not only the purple Twi’lek seated on her lap, but a human woman seated next to her, drinking in every word Fennec had to say. Boba approached his partner, the crowd dispersing from his path. One of the perks of being king, though it wasn’t really an issue for him before either.

“Look who finally decided to grace us with his presence. How was your little adventure?” Fennec asked.

��Need you to do something for me,” Boba said, ignoring her question. He was in no mood for games; he just wanted to fuck off from the world and sleep.

Fennec smiled charmingly at the human woman, “Hold on a moment sweetheart.”

“I need you to get some men to go to the meat cellar and clean it up,” Boba began, “Tell them to get rid of everything.”

“We just got a fresh shipment the other day, why do we-”

“It’s spoiled,” Boba interjected. Fennec stared at him, leaning back in the chair. She knew well enough that it wasn’t spoiled; she had been there when the shipment came in and checked it herself. Everything was fresh and top of the line.

“That’s new.” Fennec said, pointing her jug of spotchka to the four lines on his armor. “What happened there?”

“Fucking monkey,” Boba grumbled. Fennec was about to question what he meant, but Boba held a hand up, silencing any words from her. “Just...just have them clean the damn meat cellar.”

Fennec nodded, taking a sip of the blue liquid. “Did you find that ghost?”

Boba laughed darkly, “Oh I found him alright. Fucking took care of it too.” Boba grabbed the jug of spotchka from Fennec, “I’m going to my chambers, I don’t want to be bothered.”

“I was drinking that,” Fennec said.

But her words drifted into the noise of the crowd, becoming one with the cacophony of laughs and jests and music. But the one thing Boba did not hear was that high pitched Kowakian squeal that chased him down the Sarlacc’s mouth. And he was content with that.

#WHY DO I ACTUALLY FUCK WITH THIS?#i will not apologize for my genius #im the only author to every exist #writing #salacious b crumb #boba fett #star wars #the mandalorian #star wars fanfic

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jcmorrigan · 4 years ago

Note

Blakeworther headcanons. I don't have a specific theme or anything in mind. Go ham

Go ham, you say?

GO HAM, YOU SAY?

Sorry not sorry but this is about to become mega cringe time. Because I do *have* a specific set of headcanons preloaded but it is not at ALL what you asked for

I love crossovers, and I want to import the Bastard Trio into my current crossover hell fic. So I was kind of playing with their dynamic in my mind, and one of the ways I test out character dynamics is to send them on little imaginary missions to other crossover worlds in my mind. Now, I’m in the midst of watching a playthrough of Skyward Sword, which I have heretofore not experienced. And I’m not exactly finished with it. But for some mental warm-ups, I was thinking, “Okay. SkSw is the other big fandom I’m trying, and it’s as far from the G4 as you can get, so what if you put three sci-fi guys in a high fantasy setting and watched them go? What if they had to take Link’s journey, except their goal is most certainly not to save anything because they’re swaggering murderers? What would happen then?”

This...is that story. But only up through the part where I watched (the first of the Silent Realms). Maybe a part II later if I keep doing this?

-To blend in, our boys have gotten themselves some Loftwings. While Vincent’s and Victor’s look like ordinary giant shoebills...oh. Oh, dear. Albert...how did you manage to turn it into a Dream Eater so fast? Its beak is white, its feathers are black, it has no eyes and people are STARING.

-Albert refuses to discard or fix the Dream Eater Loftwing. It’s going to be his steed for this entire quest. Joy.

-NOBODY played fair when they had to race against Groose. They teamed up to knock him off his bird and it’s a miracle he survived. Especially since he wasn’t supposed to survive that.

-Like I said, I have no idea what their endgame goal is here because they’re certainly not trying to stop Demise. Or are they? Because they befriend Ghirahim right the heck away and it’s entirely possible they’re like “We’re from the future, this guy will shatter you, you deserve better, please leave Demise in the ground and join our team”

-And when I say they befriend Ghirahim right away I mean ESPECIALLY ALBERT

-Victor loves shopping at the bazaar because he can play-flirt with Peatrice and she’ll flirt right back. Meanwhile if the fortune teller attempts to reel in Vincent ONE MORE TIME there will be blood.

-Vincent Edgeworth is forcibly removed from the Skyloft bazaar

-Victor is the only person who remotely likes Fi, probably because she’s quite visibly supposed to be an AI and he is quite visibly part robot.

-They hit the ground and get going!

-Oh no. Kikwis. They hate Kikwis so much.

-The one that’s up in the tree, the three of them debate how to most quickly get down. Vincent: “We don’t bother and just say we did.” Victor: “If we threw a rock at it, it would fall out.” Albert: “I think we should set the whole tree on fire.”

-They get into the first dungeon, and you know that one segment where you have to vine-swing and the motion controls are so unforgiving? Vincent fell off those vines like twelve times and Victor and Albert lost their shit

-They get the beetle and now that thing’s a Dream Eater, too. Albert please stop doing this

-Back at Skyloft, doing sidequests is their least favorite thing. They do not give a SHIT about Gratitude Crystals if they don’t have to do so. The missing girl’s mom comes up to tell her problems and Vincent just goes “This affects me how?”. The brother says his sister went missing and Victor’s just like “We’ll take care of it!” and as soon as he’s out of earshot “Let’s not take care of it.” Cawlin hands them the love letter to deliver to Karane or Phoeni, Albert rips it in half in front of Cawlin, Cawlin starts bawling, Victor just goes “Actually I kinda wanted to do that one and see if we could start romance drama”

-Into Eldin Province and Mogmas are...only slightly less aggravating than Kikwis

-VINCENT ALMOST EXPLODES WHEN HE LEARNS THE KEY TO THE NEXT DUNGEON IS SPLIT IN PIECES AND HE HAS TO DIG IN THE DIRT FOR IT

-So then there’s that one passage in the valley where if you don’t just book it, your clothes will catch on fire. They blaze through it, and Fi determines that they’ve sustained no damage, which is good, because if they’d been exposed a moment longer, then surely one of them would be naked. Victor, hearing this, promptly tosses some personal item of his back into the high-heat area; “Oops. I dropped it. Go get it, Vincent.” Albert: “YES! GO GET IT, VINCENT!”

-It is only sheer willpower and Victor’s physical restraint that keeps Vincent from beating Ledd to a pulp.

-They actually kinda like hanging around the sacred springs, though. They’re tranquil places. A good way to just...not have to deal with all that noise. They can sit by the water quietly for a while, just watching it ripple.

-And back to business! They enter Lanayru, discover that the Time Crystals can revert this desert into a technological paradise and...yeah, it was way, WAY better in the past than it is now. They poke around some of the tech, taking notes for later in case they can reverse-engineer any of it.

-Dream Eater Beetle has been replaced by a brand-new shiny Hook Beetle! Albert, please don’t turn this one into a - GOD DAMMIT ALBERT. HOW ARE YOU EVEN DOING THIS WITH INANIMATE OBJECTS.

-They get in such a fight about how to place the generator switches. Victor is trying his best but he’s SURE they don’t arrange the way the other two are trying to tell him they arrange

-Every time they pass Ghirahim they stop to chat with him about how the demon uprising is going, also aren’t heroines just so freaking annoying? Zelda, Vanora, why are they always getting in the way?

-Victor of course tries to put the verbal moves on Impa. At this point Vincent and Albert know he just does this for fun, he’s faithful to the two of them, but still, they gotta do the obligatory eyeroll and groan

-”Yes, Victor. She’s very pretty. We’re gay, not blind”

-Vincent actually enjoys playing the Goddess Harp, surprisingly. He can just zone into the music.

-The Imprisoned gets out and hoo boy, they’re really not supposed to be DEFEATING evil just yet but Albert wants to cut off some TOES (and this ends up yielding them knowledge about the Isle of Songs so it’s all good)

-Scrapper annoys them all and visibly offends Victor.

-Vincent likes to use the bellows from the Eldin dungeon to blow away anyone who tries to rope him into a sidequest. Albert then goes “I’ve just realized the potential we have!” and tries to blow people off the edge of Skyloft.

-They hate the remlits until they find out that the remlits go feral at night and now they love the remlits but only after dark

-Into the Thunderhead for the Isle of Songs. And YET AGAIN WE CANNOT AGREE ON HOW TO SOLVE THE PUZZLE THAT LETS US INSIDE

-Down to Faron’s realm to get to the Silent Realm. Once they’re in there and have learned about the guardians...

-Vincent: “Now we have to be CAREFUL and QUICK or else the guardians will expel us immediately, maybe even kill us.” Victor: “You might want to tell him that.” Vincent: “Wh - ALBERT NO”

-Albert is investigating a dormant guardian close-up and decides “I want to take one of these home.”

-Vincent: “NO, Albert, we can’t...hmmmm. Actually, we could probably weaponize them...” Victor: “CAN WE NOT?”

-And then cue them risking life and limb not to get what they even came here for but to pick up AS MANY DARK RELICS AS THEY CAN CARRY

And that’s as far as I’ve watched in SkSw so far. Not sure whether or not I’ll keep using it as a Blakeworther ground, but there, have the AU you *never* wanted

#vincent edgeworth #victor blake #albert krueger #SKYWARD SWORD AU #i still wanna do more stuff of them with the wham army #and ghirahim is wham army af

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travllingbunny · 4 years ago

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The 100: 7x09 The Flock

And finally, the end of my and @jeanie205‘s little rewatch, and the last review I still have to post before the show’s return. And for once, I can write a shorter review than usual, because this episode isn’t all that interesting. It’s my least favorite episode at least since mid-season 5.

I have liked season 7 more than most people seem to - even though I miss Bellamy and want to see more focus on Clarke, and I’ve mostly been patient about waiting for the story to really kick into gear. I understand that BTS issues have affected the season and caused a lot of rewrites, that the first half of the season was mostly setup or it focused on developing stories for other characters (and I have enjoyed many of them, especially for Octavia, Murphy, Emori, Diyoza and Indra).

But the pacing hasn’t been the greatest, and that particularly became obvious with this episode. There was no reason to stall the action and go back and waste this entire episode on flashbacks to the 3 months that Echo, Hope, Octavia and Diyoza spent training to become Disciples. Some of this could have been included in 7x07, and this episode could have featured maybe 5-10 minutes of flashbacks and then returned to the present day action, instead of leaving Clarke, Raven, Miller, Jordan and Niylah in that same Stone Room where they have been for 3 (soon to be 4) episodes, and completely leaving them out of this episode.

I’m not even speaking from the perspective of a Clarke fan here - I enjoyed the Skyring storyline in 7x02 and 7x04. But these extended flashbacks strike me as unnecessary and far more predictable than the writers seemed to think. It’s not like we needed to see why they agreed to join the Disciples - we know it, they had no choice and that was the best solution at the moment. Clarke may be wondering whose side they are on and if they have been brainwashed, but we know better. It was never a mystery for the viewers. And this episode’s Bardo scenes are no “1984″, we aren’t wondering “oh no, are they really brainwashed?” There is little ambiguity - except maybe for Echo, the only one we could maybe wonder about “is she really going to be loyal to the Disciples now?” - but even that isn’t because she seems to have drunk the Kool-Aid, but because she may just think there isn’t anything better to do and no one else to follow. And that is probably not what’s going on, though it would probably be more interesting than the more probable and predictable plot about Echo pretending to be loyal to the Disciples while planning revenge on them.

Maybe it would be different if this episode had the Disciples deliver some important new info that would convince both the characters and the viewers that the “last war” is really something worth fighting. But the show keeps withholding information about what these concepts are - who is the Last War to be fought against? What is transcendence? And no one seems to ask about it - or they do, but off-screen.

In the meantime, the Sanctum storyline reached its climax - Sheidheda revealing himself, killing a bunch of people and staking his claim to the throne, so to speak - but it’s a climax that pretty much everyone has been expecting since Sheidheda took over Russell’s body in the season premiere. What’s worse is that this was made to happen through an incredibly OOC action by Indra. And I don’t think many will miss the Faithful - an incredibly annoying bunch of minor characters. (They are, of course, some of the titular “flock”, together with the Disciples. We get it! It’s all about blind faith and worshiping false gods! The entire season has been hammering it home!)

The episode started well, with Anders taking HEDO to the surface of Bardo to show them the crystallized forms of the extinct Bardoans. I guess the giant aliens story was true after all. This made Octavia realize “Gabriel saved us” (so I guess they won’t be too angry at him when they see him again, which they haven’t so far), It was supposed to show what kind of threat the humans are facing in the last war. Except that was all the info we got on that subject. No one asked: Who is the enemy? Where are they? When will they attack? Why do you need the Key to fight that war? Or, if they did, it was off-screen. (Surely they would have asked some questions during those 3 months?)

Instead, we get to hear more details about the Bardo society. They grow babies artificially, like Primes did with the other people in Sanctum. Not a huge surprise. They don’t want any family relationships, just like they don’t want any friendships or romantic relationships, no individual ties, except the worship of the Shepherd. We already knew that. We get it, they are ultra-collectivist. They want to get rid of emotions, etc.

We don’t know for sure how they feel about sex (if it is fully forbidden, or if it’s allowed if it’s supervised and people get approved sex partners they exchange on a regular basis, as in some dystopias) - so I’m not sure how they (would) feel about Octavia and Levitt getting it on, which was one of the few new developments in this episode (also easily predictable, especially after their tender face touching scene in 7x06). Echo mentions at one point that the Disciples are always watching them - so does that mean Anders also watched Octavia and Levitt having sex? Surely Anders must be aware of their relationship, or at least that Levitt is really into Octavia? I’ve always been open about my lack of enthusiasm for this romance, but I generally support the idea of Octavia getting a chance to enjoy herself with a nice hot guy who’s helpful.

But Anders even letting Levitt be involved in their training and testing, without controlling him, makes no sense, unless Anders is incredibly stupid. This has been my problem with this storyline all along. I’m never sure if Anders is really that stupid to trust Levitt, or if he has some kind of smart plan and has been using Levitt on purpose to get Octavia to join the Disciples. There has been speculation about whether Levitt himself is manipulating Octavia, and/or she is manipulating him - and a part of me would want some of that to be true: this relationship and this entire plot would be a lot more interesting if they were manipulating each other (while also liking each other), but I don’t think that’s the case. Levitt is probably exactly what he seems to be, and I don’t think the writing here is that smart. But I can at least hope that Anders is not a total idiot and that he’s figured out Levitt is helping Octavia, but decided to use him anyway.

Now, I did have a tiny flicker of hope that Levitt may be intended to be seen as a more ambiguous figure - when he was rating HEDO for “participation, stamina, strength and speed” (he rated Hope 1 for participation) - and Diyoza was suspicious of him and asked him: "You always have so many jobs?"

Another “are the Disciples really that stupid?” moment was when Levitt randomly told HEDO that they keep samples of the same Gem 9 that killed the native Bardoans, and that could kill everyone on Bardo. Why the heck would they be keeping it, let alone telling people about it? Does Levitt want HEDO to kill everyone on Bardo? I hope this is fake info and another test - but I fear this is just bad writing and a clumsy exposition to set up the Chekov’s Gun that our protagonists will be tempted to use.

We also learn Anders was Orlando's mentor, It’s weird that Hope mentions him as a way to try to get Anders upset (you’d think she would also be upset, since she made him think she was his friend and betrayed him). But Anders remain calm and cold, and Hope only gets upset when he mentions Dev.

If there is any ambiguity, it’s only with regard to Echo - she is probably just pretending, too, but there’s a tiny possibility that she really has decided to join them because she needs to be a soldier and have a war to fight and someone to follow. which has been established as her trait. And Echo does point out that the brainwashed Disciples children have it much better than she ever did with Azgeda. Hope throws that into her face here when she says “You just like someone to give you orders”. But that’s probably just a red herring.

The Disciples breed a limited number due to the limited resources, Why don’t they all instead just go to Sanctum, or Skyring?

The simulations were somewhat interesting, but it was pretty clear that Diyoza, Octavia and Echo were pretending to be able to kill Hope because they were threatened they would be sent to Skyring individually to die alone. Diyoza even straight up told Hope it’s what they need to do, and Echo noted “they are watching us all the time” before starting to talk about how the Disciples have convinced her to believe in their goal. Hope was acting like a child and was unable to pretend - because she is still inexperienced, she has spent most of her life on Skyring with just a few people. Now, I did gasp at first when I saw Echo killing Hope, and to be fair, I can see Echo killing Hope in real life, but Diyoza and Octavia killing Hope? Hell no.

The only thing that made me think a little bit was - is every detail in the fear simulations planned by the Disciples (probably Levitt) - or do their own minds fill in the blanks? In Echo's simulation, Hope told her "they took Bellamy from you" and called her out “I thought Bellamy meant something to you". If that was a product of Echo’s own mind, it’s a bit like Clarke calling herself out through Blodreina in her mindspace in season 6 - “I thought you cared about Bellamy” - which was the embodiment of her guilt. That would support the idea that Echo is not planning revenge, because why would she be calling herself out in her subconsciousness? But that’s a moot point if it’s all designed by Levitt.

Speaking of which, has Levitt seen Echo’s, Diyoza’s and Hope’s memories, and has he seen anything past Octavia’s season 3 memories? That has never been clear - the Disciples don’t know Clarke doesn’t still have the Flame, but they knew what Gabriel looked like (in 7x01), which they could have only learned from Octavia... and Octavia here says “You’ve seen me at my worst”, which seems to imply he saw her as Blodreina.

But while Echo may have wanted to save Hope from a worse fate when she sentenced her to 5 years on Skyring, that’s cold comfort since 5 years all alone would be terrible and drive anyone insane. (It did with Orlando.) Somehow I doubt Hope will get to be sent there - something will happen and she will probably be saved from that.

The highlight of this episode for me ended up being the mention of Etherea- because it confirms some of my theories and it’s a new planet we will be seeing soon and where Bellamy probably is.

On Sanctum, Emori is put in danger again, as Nikki’s hostage - and Murphy is worried and trying to save her. Which has been a recurring theme - it’s the only way to make people care about this plot. I doubt that many people care about the Faithful, a bunch of stupid a-holes who have so recently planned to burn their own children out of their misguided faith. I did feel a little tinge of sympathy for Jeremiah, the guy who keeps thanking Murphy for saving his son - because the guy is so clueless that he doesn’t seem to understand that he himself had the agency to decide what happens to his son. But this is probably why Madi’s friend is shown here with Madi (his name is Rex, according to the credits - he is the Sanctum boy who clearly doesn’t follow in his parents’ footsteps and invited the null boy from CoG to play soccer with him) - we need to see someone who will be hurt by what happens when Sheidheda kills these people. (The trailer shows Rex grieving one of the victims in the next episode.)(Trey, the “adjustor” who brainwashed Jordan and acted as the leader of the Faithful in earlier episodes, was not in this episode, so I’m afraid that a-hole is still around.)

But Murphy and Emori did have good moments in this episode. Both were very brave - Emori did not allow Nikki to use her to blackmail Murphy, and Murphy, this time, wasn’t just desperately worried about Emori’s life - but he offered his own life for hers. (He claimed to be the one responsible for Hatch’s death by saying it was his idea to use the prisoners - which is true; the part he left out is that it was Raven’s idea to lie to them.) This is huge - he has been willing to do a lot to save Emori, but has never offered to sacrifice himself for someone before, not even for her. The closest he had come to it before was telling her and Monty to leave him to save themselves in 5x13.

And Murphy's line to Jackson "I'm 150 pounds wet and you can’t fight to save your life” was one of the highlights of the episode.

Another development is that Indra and the others finally know that Clarke, Raven, Gaia, Miller and others are missing - but they still don’t seem to have any idea where they may be.

Sheidheda quoting Casablanca is one of the weirder moments of this season. I suppose he may have know about it from Becca or some of the other early Grounders.

Apart from being kind of boring, this episode’s biggest problem is what Indra does at the end. Of course Indra wants Sheidheda dead, but it would be a lot more in character if she killed him herself. She could have pulled a gun and shot him in the head the moment they had resolved the situation. She should be aware of what a good fighter Shady is, and that everyone in Sanctum sucks at fighting (especially when they’re not high on red toxin).

On rewatch, I realized that, while Knight (the Sangedakru who stans Shady) and another Grounder knelt immediately, Penn (who is Trikru) and another Grounder just stood there - so we’ll see how divided or not the Grounders will be about him in 7x10.

Rating: 4/10

#the 100 #the 100 7x09 #the flock #the 100 season 7

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akiwisfics · 5 years ago

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In Bloom Chapter 1

Notes: Cross-posted from AO3. If people get annoyed by this, please savior “kiwi crossposts” to save your eyes. Hey, if you’re a fan of KirarixSayaka, check our discord here .

Description: Mary accepts an invitation to watch from the president, and learns far more than she ever wanted.

Pairings: KirarixSayaka, MaryxRirika

---

“Do you really read these things?”

Kirari’s voice was clipped, as if admonishing a child. “Any position comes with its form of bureaucracy, Midari.”

She huffed and scowled, refusing to meet the stone eyes on the other side of the sitting area. “You’re starting to sound like Sayaka.” She watched the fish swim in their dizzying circles, kept as the romantic symbol they were, and ignored the stilted sorting of papers behind her. The nerve-tingling thrill of plucking her own eye in a fit of madness for this woman seemed such a far away thought now, as if an experience she lived vicariously through someone else. She wanted more.

If Kirari knew how much her skin itched, she didn’t comment on it. She snapped her fingers instead, drawing Midari back to the horrendous pile of paperwork on the table between them. It was a tragedy really. She kept her beautification committee paperwork fine enough, but the requisitions always seemed to get trapped somewhere. Individual papers had been folded and crumpled, then hastily unfolded when realized their importance, smudges of both ink and… darker activities blocked off her scrawled handwriting, making the requests look more like chicken scratch than anything else. If Midari squinted enough, one of the blots on the first page looked red and metallic. Ah. A good memory.

“I haven’t the foggiest idea how Sayaka reads this, nor do I intend to try,” Kirari quipped, a tone that reminded her of hardened steel. A tone that bore little arguing over. “This needs to be rewritten. Today.”

“What?! It’s like fifty pag--”

“Maybe instead of asking for another gun from the administration, request a filing cabinet.”

“Get Sayaka to read it then!” she snapped and looked around for the girl. Again, she confirmed the truth: they were alone in the student council room. A rarity even with the election in full swing. Now that it was just them, the office space seemed so much more expansive and oppressive at once. There was plenty of breathing room for anyone that needed it, but Midari could see why so many visitors shrunk at the sheer display of riches and power held within.

But something didn’t seem right about today either. The smell of burnt tea that wafted in the room, Kirari-- the president of all people!-- fussing over minor details in paperwork, the conspicuous absence of the ever faithful brainiac. Midari was used to niggling and bargaining with Sayaka over the details of how much money went where, or how to exactly word her documents to get what she wanted. It was a simple system: somehow the secretary always managed to work out what she wanted, how she wanted it, and usually in a week, she would go into her meeting room and it’d be there.

She was itching from more than just boredom. Her foot tapped impatiently on the floor as she looked back at the president, and for the briefest flickers, saw that same impatience there. The narrowing of her eyes, blue lips curling.

She can’t help wanting to scratch at those peeling layers. “... Where is she today?”

Kirari’s eyes naturally traced the golden handles on the heavy doors of the council room, spending longer than needed-- as if daring them to swing open by her very command. At times Midari wondered, and no doubt the other members have thought the same. Sayaka came at the nearest breath of an order, answered before the first word was spoken, and kept an even step at her side. Yet there they were, alone. Like that day. And something was so very different about it.

“... Late,” Kirari responded after a moment too long.

Anyone could tell that. Midari wanted more, and it didn’t take long to get it. Almost as soon as Kirari gave up on the doors, back to the chicken scratch paper Midari presented as requisition papers, did those heavy doors creak open, whining heavily by the weight being pushed on them.

Their heads snapped up at once as Sayaka was all but dragged through the entrance by the door’s momentum, her entire weight placed on clammy hands latched tightly on one of the handles. No sooner did she cross the entrance way that her knees seem to give way. She slipped from the door and fell face first onto the carpeted floor, pained gasps filling the shocked silence.

Midari was transfixed by the heaving, prone form in front of them. She remained rooted even as Kirari sprung from her seat, rushing to Sayaka’s side. She was quickly flipped over, showing the trembling near pale blue lips, and it quickly dawned on Midari that there was a woman dying there. Gasps of air flow being cut off.

Her lips split to a large, near cheshire smile.

Yes.

Today was certainly going to be different.

Mary only realized the cellphone was Ririka’s when she fell a step behind her, uttering a meek and discreet, “Hello?” into the receiver. Mary stopped and met Ririka’s eyes questioningly, ignoring the rumbles of rumors from the classmates around them. That she had grown accustomed too quickly with Ririka being at her side. It was understandable at least-- it wasn’t like they were being secretive about the whole partnership. Not that Ririka gave it much option.

The ring tone had been so normal, just the standard for the model Ririka had in her trembling hands, that Mary really didn’t even recognize it.

“Oi! Kirari needs you here now!” Midari’s screeching voice on the other end wasn’t what Mary expected and she involuntarily winced in sympathy as Ririka gently held the phone further away from her ear.

Student council matters then? They had certainly been quiet recently, but someone was still enforcing the system in some manner. Mary couldn’t be that surprised by it. It would be better to just let her handle it then. She tried to call attention to herself with a wave. “I’ll let you handle this, right? Though I doubt the president doesn’t have her own sister’s number. Shouldn’t she be call--”

Ririka held a finger up to her, mouthing a simple ‘stay’ before retorting to Midari, “I can’t just leave right now. What’s--”

“You don’t get it. Kirari is pissed,” and the excitement practically bubbled over in her words, as if Midari could barely contain herself. “She’s demanding you and Saotome-san here right now.”

“Me?” Mary retorted, knowing full well at this point that her voice was probably getting picked up from somewhere, “I have nothing to do with this. She can’t just make orders like a tantruming child!” She caught the stares immediately in the hallway though and tried to lower her voice. “I’m not student council. Leave me out of it.”

Midari laughed, only sounding worse through the digital distortion on the receiver. “Oh it has everything to do with you too~. Sayaka’s been poisoned.”

The secretary? The memory wasn’t so far gone from her mind to ignore the implication that was being made there. She did have some unfinished business with Inbami and Yobami. While Yobami-san had been removed from the election in their match, Inbami-san had made it clear that wasn’t the end of it. Targeting the student council though? It seemed too brazen for her, even with her lack of skills in a direct gamble. Not to mention, it wasn’t like Mary was personally involved in Igarashi-san’s life. Obviously, she wouldn’t want the girl to die, but it wasn’t like she was personally involved in those stakes.

Perhaps to the president, Mary had just failed to clean up her mess. She could feel Ririka’s eyes boring into her as she thought it over. If it did turn into an election battle, it would be a good time to evaluate Kirari’s skills for herself. And being her partner in that regard could also lend itself to more information than as her opponent. Especially when apparently, there were personal stakes involved.

She would have time to ask Ririka before they made it to the office. Mary sighed. “Tell the president we’re on our way.”

Ririka looked visibly relieved as she hung up the phone, not even bothering to hear Midari’s affirmation as she stepped back to her side. Mary wouldn’t admit the small bit of satisfaction in seeing the light smile on the sullen girl’s face. “Thank you. I can’t even begin to explain the dynamics there, but… Kirari would not ask for us if she didn’t need it.”

“Just don’t let me go up there blind,” she huffed, even as the memory of the girl’s smile remained firmly in her thoughts.

She didn’t really know Igarashi-san. Then again, Mary wasn’t really sure who did. Even just being a secretary, she carried that trademark mystery air to her-- always slightly unapproachable and always slightly intimidating. It wasn’t a demeanor Mary personally cared about, but she has had no reason to know the president’s personal dog either. Any time Kirari was spotted in the halls, her secretary trailed just a half step behind her. She supposed if anyone knew, it had to be the president, but what few times they’ve talked, the subject of the secretary never came up.

Mary did know a few things. They were in the same grade with Igarashi-san always at the top of the exam list. She was handy with a taser (and from the twisted smile that contorted her face, enjoyed it a little too much), and had known to only gamble once.

The looming tower in the courtyard had been an eye sore for a while now, but Mary couldn’t ignore the brief murmur of rumors surrounding the structure in the weeks leading up to the election. She knew about the gamble-- vaguely anyway. Just that something explosive was going to happen the moment Yumeko and Kirari met. It wasn’t quite what she expected though.

She had no idea why Igarashi-san was involved, or why anyone needed to jump out of the damn thing.

“Oh yes, it looked quite thrilling!” Yumeko gushed one morning as they waited for class to start.

“And they had a safety net? They’re lucky no one broke their neck.”

“But it’s part of the fun, isn’t it? Though Igarashi-san hadn’t expected to survive. She wouldn’t have if she made the wrong choice.”

“She doesn’t seem the type,” Mary mumbled. She only meant it as an off-hand comment, still trying to will the early morning drowsiness away, but her red eyes glinted with a small, ethereal smile.

“Igarashi-san fit right in. I’m a bit envious~” Yumeko sighed wistfully, clasping her hands against her blooming cheeks. “That rush of victory into such crushing despair. Yet she took that fall with such grace! I would’ve followed if it didn’t seem like interrupting a private moment.”

“Private?”

But Yumeko didn’t answer, only laughing-- as if hiding a piece of juicy gossip. Mary hadn’t thought much on it, especially when the election began so soon after and Ririka extended her ‘offer.’ Now that they were approaching the long hallway to the council room however, maybe she should’ve asked a few more probing questions about the night. All she knew was the president leapt after this girl, and maybe, that meant more than just an impulse.

The hallway was practically deserted for a large academy like Hyakkaou. A blanket of tense silence overwhelmed her almost immediately, only broken by the flurry of steps from medical staff as they entered and left the council room. Their lips were sealed, only sparing a few words to the president that stayed perched at the opposite wall. They worked with a slick professionalism that Mary could at least admire, using discretion. They didn’t even look at her and Ririka as they worked. She could point out IV lines, some… other equipment she couldn’t identify aside from old medical dramas that came on when she studied at night.

Midari and Runa shielded Kirari from close study, stationed on either side of her and conversing quietly. Midari was facing away from them, but Mary could make a few guesses with a girl like her-- a prospect of a life or death gamble. If she looked hard enough, she could maybe spot quivering thighs, flushed skin. She didn’t. The less she bothered with Midari, the better.

Runa faced them, eyes narrowed to beady little slits and humming a small, whimsical tune. The unwrapped lollipop that she danced between her tiny fingers had been largely forgotten by the new turn of events. She looked far too pleased with it, even with her initial annoyance by the original poisonings. Mary couldn’t help her paranoia begin to rise as the darkened eyes met hers. “Oh! They made it!”

It was too late to ask for more.

Kirari stepped away from the pair of members flanking her to observe them herself, and something didn’t seem quite right. Like a jigsaw puzzle being mashed together, misshapen pieces torn to fit the holes for a different, unclear picture. Her eyes were cold and indifferent, yet the creased brow and dishevelled appearance showed exertion and care in the last few minutes between the call. Her jacket was left behind in the student council room, lace blouse sleeves rolled up to her elbows and her shoulders sagged slightly from stress. Yet her smile curved confidently around smeared blue lipstick and her voice reverberated in the empty hallway as if this was any other day.

“Ririka, I’ll need you for the gamble,” she spoke, walking assured strides to them, as if she didn’t look out of place. “Stay behind with me and we’ll go over everything?”

“And Igarashi-san?” Mary blurted.

She stopped, almost offended that Mary even spoke. She regarded her just a single second before nodding to Runa. “You will have to apologize for the lack of pleasantries, Saotome-san, but we are on a schedule,” she said.

Runa came closer, sticking the lollipop in her mouth so she could have both hands to fish through her giant pockets. Mary didn’t want to guess what were in those things. She hoped just candy, but…

A ziploc bag was thrust into her hands, holding a plain black envelope with some sort of wax seal broken. She would guess it was a Momobami one, which would’ve clued Sayaka enough. Tilting the bag to and fro, she noticed a white powder collecting along the bottom. “Do you know what it is yet?”

“No. Which makes time of the essence, Saotome-san. Please go meet them in the lower gambling floor. I must speak with my sister.” The president rolled her sleeves down. Mary noticed as the moments passed in the hallway, she only seemed to be growing calmer instead. “Runa will be accompanying you.”

“Can you at least tell me what happened?”

Kirari scowled instead, only waving Ririka over and promptly ignoring her. “Midari, please stay with Sayaka.”

Midari tsked but didn’t argue. It was like clockwork. Ririka joined her sister at her side as Midari went through the student council doors. It wasn’t long after that Runa was tugging at the sleeve of her blazer, ushering her along. It just left her more confused as to why she was there at all.

“Try not to take it personally, Mary-chan~” Runa giggled as they began their journey to the lower levels. “Sayaka-chan did her due diligence, but she only put herself in a worse position.”

“With the baggie?”

“It was done after exposure. Even contacted staffing to quarantine the room first before alerting anyone about how hurt she was.”

Mary frowned. She couldn’t get that, but maybe it was something about this school. She expected Yumeko to ignore her own symptoms before it stopped her from doing what she loved, but Igarashi-san was reasonable. Practical. All of that seemed to stop mattering the moment the president was involved. “How bad is she?”

Runa shrugged. “She wasn’t breathing last I saw. President banned everyone from the room not long after that.”

Smeared lipstick, sleeves rolled up. Mary’s heart sank. Even as a rival, she at least understood that Igarashi-san was important. To be targeted like that? It was bad enough just to have a friend be at risk. “... So are the two…?”

Runa shrieked in laughter. “Your guess is as good as mine, Mary-chan~”

Figures. Even if Runa did know, there wasn’t any reason to be honest with Mary about it. At best, she was protecting the president’s own integrity in what was likely the most vulnerable Mary would ever get to see, and at worst, she was just as clueless. None of this made any sense. Why show Mary that at all? Why involve her if it was something so serious?

And that envelope had a letter in it? Where was that? She stopped, looked to Runa, and was greeted with a toothy smile.

“I have it.”

“And?”

“Confidential~”

“Well now I know something’s on it!” Mary grumbled, crossing her arms. “What if they need that?!”

“Kirari-chan knows~. She found it.”

“Why am I here, Runa?!”

Runa giggled once more, lazily strolling ahead of her-- only worsening her nerves. “Question also isn’t for me.”

Mary realized with startling apprehension that she had never seen the gambling floor completely cleared out like this. Ever. Even during classes, there was a milling student or two in there either competing in a gamble or just looking for an easy place to ditch class. Not a soul was in there. The tables were left where they were, as if people were ordered to clear away right in the middle of games. Only things taken were personal belongings, and naturally, the voting chips-- what little that were left between Kirari and Terano.

Yobami and Inbami were sitting at the center poker table, eerily silent in the backdrop of the mostly deserted room. Even she felt Runa tense up under the oppressive atmosphere within. “Keep your wits about you,” she whispered, nearly cracking her teeth against the lollipop still stuck in her mouth.

She steeled herself and strode confidently in the room, never releasing her gaze from the pair of sisters that eagerly awaited their arrival. She was the surprise here, and perhaps they could play into it. No way Runa would allow her to outwardly influence the game, but there was no love lost between her and them either. They could play it into their advantage.

Inbami looked less than pleased to see her already. There was a lot of satisfaction in seeing the snarl. “Saotome, I doubt Igarashi-san would’ve brushed off the responsibility to you. Where is she?”

Mary stopped, taking a second to register exactly what she was asking. “No. But she’s still not coming since you know… she’s a bit poisoned?”

“What.”

What? How was she supposed to respond to that. They were a ‘medicine’ family where poisoning was practically their MO. If they didn’t mean to poison Sayaka then who the hell--

Runa was cackling. Great. “Ohhh, it makes sense now~,” she teased, “You didn’t know? Sayaka-chan started checking Kirari-chan’s mail right after what happened last time. A secretary has to consider all possibilities.”

“Then who’s coming--”

“Who do you think?!” Mary snapped. The way Inbami’s face sank was priceless, and Yobami wasn’t faring much better. She had to admit the plan would’ve been practical had it worked-- taking advantage of the weaker partner in a time of great crisis. It would’ve been Igarashi-san that found her first and it would’ve been Igarashi-san that took the risks under duress. At best, they would’ve killed the president and rendered the entire reason for the election useless, and at worst, taken advantage of a vulnerable girl who would happily give power and position to see the president well again. She would’ve been almost completely defenseless with the sisters having all the power. It wasn’t so different from what they tried to pull on Ryota, but still with rather large gaping holes.

In trying to hook the flounder, they pulled a shark on their line. And the president wasn’t going to let go without tipping the whole ship over. Whatever the reasons, whatever the situation, Mary was going to learn something today.

“Miyo,” Yobami called for quietly, and the two sisters exchanged glances. It was as if they knew by just that one singular look to one another.

Inbami offered a placid smiled to them. “Then Kirari is coming. With Ririka?”

“Yeah.”

Runa hummed. “It makes no difference to me, but I’m sure Kirari-chan would be happy just getting an antidote or two from you and letting it go.”

Inbami laughed and motioned for Yobami to sit across from her, the smile twisting her features into something ugly but not unfamiliar to Mary. “Someone needs to tell the child no. It doesn’t matter to me if she loses her favorite toy.”

“Suit yourself,” Runa replied before taking place at the left side of the table. She tugged a deck of cards out of her oversized pockets, humming appreciatively as she broke the sticker seal with the singular swipe of her finger nail.

Mary let silence envelope the lonely room once more, only broken by the steady shuffling of cards. There wasn’t any obvious sign of nervousness from either sister now, though Yobami’s back was to her now. The sitting arrangement wasn’t unlike the Nim Zero. So something similar. She tried to take comfort in being an impartial observer, having nothing to lose and little to gain from it.

She didn’t have much time to enjoy the silence. The doors swung open with a flourish, and all eyes turned to the expected arrivals. Kirari made her entrance first, head held high and looking nothing like she had in the hallway. She had retrieved her blazer without a single stitch or tear in sight. Her eyes shone with the same cold confidence, blue eyes mirrored in the perfectly styled blue eyeshadow and lips. She regarded the room with an indistinct smile. “Sorry to keep you waiting.”

Ririka was right behind, in what Mary could affectionately call her game face on. She held herself not unlike Kirari, but her demeanor seemed more like righteous fury to her. A bright light shining in the sea of darkness of the room. What conversation they had instilled confidence and likely a better sense of what was happening than Mary did. They were ready for what was to come, and Mary felt the excitement bubbling inside her.

Kirari breezed past her without any sort of acknowledgement as before, approaching the table with a cruel calculation. “Spades, was it? Not very imaginative, but it’ll help to end this quickly,” she regarded them like nothing, as if only a momentary distraction, “Traditional?”

“200 chips for one,” Yobami answered without turning to look at the president directly.

Steep price just for the first round. Ririka came to her side, looking pensive. They didn’t have that many chips between the two of them, but it may play into Mary’s favor to get the president indebted to her. “... I’ll help meet the bet if we need to,” she whispered to the girl at her side.

“I’m not interested in the antidote,” Kirari replied, and all at once the table erupted into chaos.

“What?! Why are you even here then?” Inbami snapped. “You’re just going to let the girl die? You know the hospital will be too late to save her!”

Runa simply began laughing at everyone’s expense, clearly enjoying the turn of events.

Ririka hesitated before cautiously approaching her twin, voice gentle and soothing as if calming a crazed beast. “Are you sure about this? If anything were to go wrong, and Igarashi-san…”

Kirari waved her sibling off before circling the card table, lightly brushing the tops of Yobami’s shoulders as she slipped by, causing the small girl to stiffen uncomfortably from the contact. She didn’t linger, instead coming to her sister’s side and tightly clutching Inbami’s cheeks, a cruel chuckle rumbling from frosted lips as she forced the girl to meet eyes with her.

“You sought to use my own secretary to take everything from me,” she spoke into the girl’s very soul, digging and taking apart what she found within. “You’ve caught my attention, so why stop now? I’m here. Bet everything against me~. You can end the election with both my chips and Ririka’s. Not even Terano could stop you. I’ll even give you the seat.”

This. Mary knew this. The stone eyes glowing blue under the low light, the madness twisting her stoic features to something monstrous. It was the very same thing that fascinated her and scared her about Yumeko.

“If not for the antidote, then what would you want?” Yobami interrupted the dissection, earning a smirk from the president.

“Why, a bet must be met. You’ll lose your names. Your family will lose their names. We’ll just take the more… interesting ones under Momobami~.”

Inbami ripped herself away from the examination, clearly horrified by the suggestion. “Why would we agree to something so-- Let me remind you that Igarashi-san will die without this! We’re the ones with leverag--”

“I don’t care.” The words shut Inbami up immediately and said with so much malice that it raised the hairs on the back of Mary’s neck. It was like night and day. This was the same girl that had tried to keep Igarashi-san breathing? It was too stupid to be a coincidence. “Sayaka was well aware of the risks when she kept her position after the council dissolved. If that’s all you have to offer, I can easily waste my time elsewhere.”

She turned on her heel, fully intent to leave them all there stranded and shell shocked by the demand. One step and Ririka looked back to Mary, utterly dumbfounded. Mary started to believe that maybe this was sincere. Two steps, and Runa was gathering the cards once more, shuffling them even faster as if playing with them. Three steps, and Mary found her voice bubbling in her throat, but before she could speak a word, Inbami broke.

“Fine! Three rounds of Spades. Everything on the line.”

Kirari stopped. She turned back to the group, gracefully offering her hand. “Let’s get started then, shall we?”

After that, it was all movement. Kirari and Ririka took their seats opposite one another, Kirari facing Mary. Runa dealt the cards without prompting, sweeping them across the expanse of the table as her hum entered a crescendo-- practically buzzing with anticipation for the events about to unfold. Slim, pale fingers tapped the cards dealt, stopping them perfectly in front of their respective owners. Mary stepped to Ririka’s side, taking her place to her partner’s right in hopes of providing encouragement and support to the shy girl.

Ririka lifted her hand before, fanning them out for Mary to sneak a peek to the contents within. High suits with … three spades? The spades were low numbers though, and could easily be trumped in a poorly played trick. A few mistakes could be afforded, but now that Kirari forced them to put everything into the pot… Mary couldn’t help being nervous.

Spades was a strange game. Built on the honor system, it obligated its players to use their cards honestly but wisely. Since each round called for all 13 cards to be used before it finished, lies were easily caught by attentive players. No doubt the sisters would be focusing on Kirari as the bigger target. She was the more experienced player, the more dangerous. That could open opportunities for subterfuge if they needed it.

“I’m sure I don’t need to remind you, Mary-chan,” Runa piped up as she dealt the last few cards, “But giving Ririka-chan advice at any time is prohibited~.”

Mary huffed, “I know that.” She knew now that Ririka was competent enough to stand on her own anyway. She bested Oobami without much trouble, and with a grace and cunning that she hadn’t seen anywhere else. Yobami and Inbami weren’t even close to that level of control and finesse. The odds were stacked against them, but Kirari offered a prize far too tempting to refuse.

At the very least, they were wise enough to choose a straightforward game with little confusion, and little opportunity to cheat. Mary could guess how this was supposed to play. A three-persion version of the game was possible, in which every round the third person would switch to the other team. The person left without a partner would have a “dummy” partner with access to their cards. Since Yobami and Inbami had a way to communicate non-verbally, it would be easy to work out the remaining cards in the deck, and thus, easily overpower a lone Igarashi-san into a clean win. No doubt Igarashi-san would’ve known it, but with the president in a precarious position, she would be left with no choice but to lose everything. The only possible flaw for that would be for Runa to excise the partner switching rule, but even still… Igarashi-san would’ve been alone.

Even now, they could probably deduce what the combined cards were for Ririka and Kirari-- something that could lend itself to certain advantages in accurately guessing the amount of tricks, but even then, there were certain caveats to that. They couldn’t predict exactly which card belonged to which twin, and the fact that they were tricked by a simple shuffle trick in Nim Type Zero made it far less likely that they would realize that advantage.

A trick was one round of each playing a singular card of their 13 card hand. The first player chose the suit with their first card, and each subsequent player was obligated to play another suit. If the player didn’t have a particular suit, they were welcomed to play any card in their hand. At the end of the trick, the player that placed the highest value card of that suit won, so long as no spades were played. A spade could be played to trump the trick, and if done so, then the player with the highest value spade by the end would win the trick. The particular round would end once every card in the player’s hand had been played. First to 200 points won a single game.

With three games in total, this could be a long wait. No doubt that was a conscious decision on Inbami and Yobami’s part. The longer Igarashi-san went without the antidote, the likelier this would be a giant waste of time for everyone. Not that it wasn’t already now that Kirari removed the antidote completely from the equation.

Not that it didn’t look like Kirari was looking to finish this quickly anyway. Mary picked up on the fact that she was the only one at the table that hadn’t picked up her hand, a finger idly tapping the cards that laid face down in front of her. She watched Runa expectantly, as if the cards weren’t in front of her at all.

Once everyone seemed satisfied with looking at their hand, Runa gave a toothy grin and waved a hand over the table with dramatic enthusiasm. “We’ll start the bidding round!” she announced sharply, echoing in the mostly empty chambers. “How many tricks will you be winning, Inbami-san?”

“Nil.”

“Oho~. Starting strong, already?”

“If we’re betting everything, we might as well.”

Kirari giggled beside her, unsurprising with her own choice. Her cards still remained face down. Their actions weren’t too dissimilar though. The nil bid and the blind nil were two sides of the same coin-- both rewarding steep risks with high rewards. It was exactly how it sounded-- a nil bid was a player turning the rules on its head, instead strategizing to lose every single trick that’s played. A successful player could easily push a team into victory, earning 100 points in a single round. However, winning a single trick was a loss of 100.

“And I don’t really need to ask you, do I, Kirari-chan?”

“Blind nil, please,” Kirari replied anyway, her smirk twitching just a bit in both exuberance and confidence. It was the riskiest bid of the game, but a successful round won it at once. 200 points to gain and 200 points to lose on failure. Already in the first game, the two teams were butting heads with the strategies of the stronger player guaranteeing victory.

“And Yobami-san?”

“Ten.”

“No surprise. Ririka-chan?”

She glanced at her hand, then back to Kirari just once. The action wasn’t lost on the others at the table. Mary didn’t know if the hesitance was a bluff or genuine at this point. “... Seven.” Safe bet, and showed the difference of styles immediately. Ririka was gauging the skills and playing field, while Kirari was throwing her strongest right at the start. There wasn’t any need to bet higher or lower though. If Kirari succeeded, they would win the game anyway, and if she failed, a penalty of 200 points would be nearly impossible to get out of anyway. They would have to rely on Inbami failing too. And even still…

“That ends the bidding round! Kirari-chan, you’re okay to look at your hand now~” Kirari picked up all 13 with fluid motion, peering into the contents without a word or expression to give whether her luck was fortunate or not. Runa nodded approvingly. “Now let’s start the trick!”

Inbami set down a two of hearts, and Mary winced. Bad start. Inbami was guaranteed to lose the trick. If she had low numbers like that and no spades, she would be cinching the nil in no time. It didn’t mean Kirari couldn’t as well though, and as she placed a four of hearts in return, looked strong to do so. Ririka followed with a King of Hearts, then Yobami with a reluctant ten. Ririka quietly gathered the four card pile and shuffled them into a neat stack in front of her.

The tricks followed lightning quick following. Five of clover starting, following by a seven, nine, and then ending with a Jack, earning Yobami the second trick. Nine of hearts, six, ten, and an ace. Yobami for third. It followed with rapid order, slammed in the center of table with the familiarity of the game from all players. No matter how quickly the order was played, there was no argument of which card came with what hand or who won an individual trick. Mary noticed how much the sisters were focusing on Kirari’s own responses, her own casual mannerisms as she kept playing low card after low card into the pile. It seemed each move was personally addressed to her. Throughout the tricks, Yobami remained the clear dominant victor-- squashing the chances that Ririka would earn her total bid more and more.

By the halfway point, it was obvious Ririka was under, only having earned two tricks to the total seven played. Yobami had a strong hand, and clearly, the sisters had communicated this strategy to one another. The only thing they could do was hope that she went over half of her bid to make up for what points would be lost by clumsy playing. Trick eight and nine went without much hope. Then as a round of diamonds came down, the room fell into a deafening silence as Kirari placed an ace of spades onto the pile.

“Are… are you serious?” Mary asked, dumbfounded.

Kirari laughed, as if this was another casual game among friends. “It’s not like I could exchange it for another card, Saotome-san. It seems this round was mine to lose~”

A light smile spread on Inbami’s face, and both sisters looked visibly relieved by the turn of events. Both Ririka and Yobami put down low spades in return and without much fanfare, Kirari gathered her lowly trick to her side of the table. There was nothing they could do now. The first game had been lost. All parties easily realized it now after too, Yobami cinching the win for her team by trick 12, gathering her tenth trick into the line of stacks in front of her-- her sister still clear without a single stack. Trick 13 was one by Ririka’s single card left, an ace of diamonds.

Runa gathered the cards with a satisfied smile, shuffling them in her tiny hands with ease and practice. “First game to Yobami-san and Inbami-san! And it’s nice to see the games proceeding so quickly~. I’m sure the other players would love to have this room back.”

“I figured a lack of audience would be more… suitable.”

Kirari shrugged. “Sayaka wouldn’t have cared honestly. She can have quite the single-track mind.”

Runa hummed in agreement before dealing the cards out once more. “You’re quiet today, Kirari-chan~”

“Simply enjoying the challenge. I’m surprised Miyo and Miri could actually bring one to me.”

Inbami scowled at the comment, but said nothing as the cards were passed among the table once again. This time, Kirari did pick up her hand, humming a small tune as she gazed onto her cards thoughtfully. Yobami and Inbami tensed with the intrusions, sharing a look with one another. Was it a positive observation? A negative? Facing someone like Kirari meant second guessing every movement and action brought into the game. Kirari seemed well aware of it, maybe even humoring their close observation of her.

This time, Ririka didn’t pick up her cards. She stared ahead, passed Kirari and the empty roulette tables behind her-- fixating on a random spot on the wall as she waited. Like the last game, both Yobami and Inbami picked up their hand. It made sense. It benefited them more to play it safe. As Mary thought, they were likely sharing knowledge of their cards as to guess their chances against the cards the other two players had-- taking advantage of their nonverbal cues to one another.

Runa seemed to pick up on the habit too, looking onto the pair of sisters with annoyance. Yet, there really wasn’t any solid way to prove it. “Ah, Ririka-chan, your turn now is it?”

Ririka simply nodded, affirming her bid as the blind nil.

“And Kirari-chan?”

“Four~.” … A safe bet? It was just enough to avoid the penalty if she picked up more tricks than she needed. If a player picked up 10 over what they bid, it was an automatic 100 point penalty. However, if Ririka succeeded in the blind nil, they at least would be granted 100 points for the team.

“And Yobami-san?”

“... Three.”

Runa nodded affirmatively. “Inbami-san?”

“Seven.”

Not as aggressive this time, but still a prediction of winning a majority of the tricks. The sisters were confident after the easy victory of the first game. With a quick affirmation from Runa, Ririka picked up her hand. All relatively low numbers, which was lucky. Even three twos. Mary then blanched at the sight of the queen of spades in there. Then a king of diamonds. No aces, but it would still make playing the round without winning tricks difficult.

Kirari began without prompting, and started strong with an ace of diamonds. Ririka placed the king of diamonds in response (relieved no doubt to be rid of the suit), which was followed by a four and a six respectively. Kirari gathered her pile, not saying a word to the group of people around her, only passing a small grin over to Mary as she arranged her pile. She had no idea what the smile meant.

Like before, the tricks went quickly-- Ririka playing as masterfully as she’d seen anyone else play. On trick seven, Kirari started strong with another ace, snatching Yobami and Inbami’s focus enough for Ririka to sneak the queen of spades in. Without thought, Inbami had won the trick with a king of spades of her own, ridding her partner of her worst card and continuing the nil bid streak. By trick ten, they were still looking strong with Kirari having a total of six tricks won to Inbami’s three and Yobami’s one.

Then, Mary’s phone rang.

Kirari paused mid card placement, quickly adding it back to her hand as the rest of the players regarded the observer skeptically.

Runa sighed. “C’mon Mary-chan! This is serious.”

“I know that!” Mary-chan flushed. The turn of events had happened so quickly she hadn’t thought of even turning her phone off. She turned away from the group as she fished her phone out of the pocket of her blazer. She didn’t recognize the number on the screen. With a huff, Mary swiped to answer, snapping a quick, “What?!” as greeting.

“Don’t tell them who it is.”

Mary paused, and thought quickly on what to say. “Yumeko, I don’t have time for this. This better be important.”

“Tell Ririka five.”

“... That’s it? That’s all you had to tell me?” She hadn’t the slightest idea of what that meant. Maybe it was something special between the two of them. A code word, or some kind of alarm system. Midari’s voice on the other end was serious though-- more serious than she had ever heard her. She tried not to think on what the implications were, and how little she heard other than Midari’s voice on the other end. “I’m in a game right now, so just… I don’t know. Lunch later?”

She could even hear the scowl on the other end. “Just work it out yourself. I got other stuff to do if I can’t watch.”

“I’ll tell you about it later, Yumeko. I need to go.” And Mary hung up the phone. She would find out later what that meant, she guessed. She turned to face the table that waited patiently for her return, even as Mary had nothing to do with the actual events of the game.

Mary sighed and returned to Ririka’s left. “Sorry, I swear she calls at the worst times,” she let the lie slip out easily as she traced the number five between Ririka’s shoulder blades. She felt Ririka stiffen under her touch, as unaccustomed to the contact as Mary was-- and even stranger still to feel the muscles twitch and tense under her finger. She tried not to think on it, especially as Ririka gazed up at her with the most doe-eyed puzzled look that she’d ever seen.

Mary’s stomach churned. Great. She had no idea either.

Runa shrugged and gestured to the table. “Let’s keep going then!”

The momentum came back in full swing, as if the interruption never occurred at all. By the last trick, the game wasn’t looking much better in Yobami and Inbami’s favor, and it showed with the harsh lines of Inbami’s face, clearly frustrated by the way Kirari casually played. Kirari hadn’t won a single trick again, and seemed to just be playing trash cards. Mary wasn’t even sure she was even looking at her hand as she was choosing them. As she tossed her last card blindly on the table, Inbami nearly lost her mind.

“Will you take this seriously?!” Ririka did her best ignoring her as she quietly placed her two of diamonds down in response. It didn’t matter what the other two players did at this point. Ririka had cleared the victory for them.

“And game two goes to Ririka-chan and Kirari-chan!” Runa confirmed as she gathered the cards back up in her tiny fingers.

It seemed to only agitate Inbami more. “Ririka, how could you be satisfied with this?” she tried to gauge, even though the sister had cleared the victory for them. “You’ll be living in your twin’s shadow your entire life. If we win, at least you’ll have a chance to be free.”

“She’s doing just fine here,” Mary interjected quickly as she squeezed her partner’s shoulder as reassurance. “Focus on your strategy for once.”

Runa laughed. “Giving advice to the opponents isn’t allowed either, Mary-chan~,” but she made no motion to penalize either party as she re-shuffled the deck.

“Saotome, you have just as much to lose here. How can you be happy with how carelessly Kirari is playing things?!” Mary kept her mouth shut, only glancing to Kirari for confirmation of what was happening.

Kirari nodded in return.

“Maybe she isn’t. I know she isn’t going to lose to you two at least. You’re shit gamblers.”

“That win was a fluke, Saotome. And we’ll show it in this last game,” Yobami quipped with an icy leer. Mary dismissed her easily, just as Runa began dealing the cards once more.

Ririka spared enough attention to the cards to catch them from sliding off the table, but that was it. They remained firmly face down once again, this time looking resolute and ready for the kill. Kirari on the other hand yawned as she gathered her cards in her hand, cradling her cheek with her hand as she looked onto her cards. It only seemed to irritate the sisters further.

Mary recognized the bait and switch easily, but was perhaps pleasantly surprised by the amount of trust Kirari was placing on her sister to actually carry the big moves in the game. Their opponents were none the wiser by the ploy, even though by now they had to have known about Ririka’s own gains in the election so far.

Inbami wasn’t looking at her cards either, mirroring Ririka with a far more emotional intent behind it. This was the last game. It didn’t surprise Mary that both were playing with everything they had.

Runa seemed to pick up on the change of atmosphere herself. She didn’t even bother asking Inbami and Ririka this time, putting the focus on the two girls that actually bothered to look at their cards.

“Kirari-chan?”

“Four.” Same as before.

“Alright. Yobami-san?”

“... Four.”

Runa raised a skeptical brow, but said nothing, merely waving her hand to approve the two players that kept their hand on the table.

Mary didn’t even bother to look at Ririka’s hand this time. If they were this stupid to try to mirror their bids like this, there was no point. Someone was going to go over. At least half the table would. Instead, she focused on Inbami’s face as she peered at her hand. And there, just the slightest twitch of her scowl, that she knew that the twins had guaranteed victory.

It was like a slow march to death as they played. The girls hesitated with each pull, as if waiting and biding their time to see if the twins would make a mistake first. They didn’t. Kirari regarded her twin’s moves carefully as she started each trick, playing high when Ririka started with a less than stellar trick, and playing blindly when it was safe to do so. The twins regarded each other more like they were just sharing afternoon tea, rather than sealing their opponents’ fates to being servants-- devoured by the stronger family.

By the final trick, it was clear that both twins had stopped caring. Kirari gazed at her sister thoughtfully as she dumped her final card on the table, the ace of spades fluttering harmlessly on the wood before Ririka had a chance to even play the first card on the table. It was then Mary began to notice something strange between the two, as both sisters looked on, crestfallen to the card that sealed their fate.

“Why waste their time further sister? Just tell them,” Kirari spoke softly as her edges became more familiar, more rounded and less like a predator. “They should at least know why they’ve lost.”

Ririka laughed, and the sound was so harsh that Mary immediately peeled her hand away from the girl’s shoulder, recognizing the trickery immediately. Her heart burned at the thought. The implications that she couldn’t even notice.

Inbami’s face slipped and she trembled. Yobami was at her side immediately, as if trying to shield and protect her sister as ‘Ririka’ stood from her seat, crumpling the two of diamonds in her hand and throwing it on the center of the table. The smile on her face was cold. Mary had never seen such a grin so thick with malice, and it really complimented the fire that was clear in her eyes. She couldn’t…

She couldn’t believe how much Ririka had that face.

Kirari brushed the long tresses of her silver hair behind her shoulder before circling the table to greet the newest members of the Momobami clan. There was no love there. No compassion.

Yobami stood her full height between her and her older sister, trying to meet the president with courage. Mary could appreciate the protectiveness she held, but it was too late. Kirari simply grabbed the collar of her blazer and shoved her away, batting her off like an insect.

“Miri!” Inbami called out as her sister crashed into the wood floor, only to have her attention snatched away by sharp nails. They dug into her chin as Kirari wrenched her face back, forcing eye contact mere inches away from each other. It wasn’t so different from when Ririka had done it at the start of the game, but the energy was far, far different.

Kirari’s eyes were wild, looming over the girl with a burning hot anger that looked completely foreign on her. As if it was never meant to be there, so open -- so honest. It didn’t look human on Kirari’s face. “Did you really think I would let people like you take Sayaka? To corner her alone and desperate and take advantage of her? You were so easy to trick.”

“Sister, w-wait--” Ririka tried to interject, already tugging the braids loose from her hair.

Kirari snapped her head up to regard her twin coldly, giving Inbami enough distraction to tear herself away. She bolted out of her chair, smacking it to the floor as she tried to create enough distance between herself and the president. She made it about five steps before Kirari was on her again, grabbing her arm and yanking her closer. Inbami looked wide-eyed and terrified as she desperately tore a baggie out of her pocket, containing a familiar syringe.

Mary finally found her voice. “Wait, Inbami stop!”

Ignoring her commands, the girl crushed the glass syringe with a shaky fist, staring at Kirari defiantly as she did so. “... It’s the last one,” she said as she dropped all of it to the floor.

It was enough to give Kirari pause. She peered at the broken syringe curiously for a moment, as if a foreign species that warranted dissection. It was enough that Inbami looked less frazzled, unwisely more triumphant as she backed further away from Kirari. There had to be more right? It was cruel to condemn an innocent girl to die like that… but Mary could almost commend that final act of rebellion before servitude.

But Kirari started laughing. Light, almost overjoyed at the sight of it.

“What… What’s so funny? She’s dead now! You realize that, don’t you? That was the last--”

“We fell five stories together, Saotome-san. It was the solution that saved Sayaka’s life that night.”

Mary’s eyes widened.

Kirari thought nothing of it as she picked up the discarded and broken syringe before giving the baggie back to the bewildered Inbami. “I’m the head of the clan. Of course I would recognize an Inbami specialty when I see one. Saotome-san’s little phone call was for me. Not her.”

“What?”

“If they called me directly, you would be suspicious, wouldn’t you? But… Saotome-san would’ve given away that Sayaka was fine if she had been just told that. That girl is truly fascinating.”

Inbami just sank to her knees. “... So all this time…?”

Kirari chuckled. “... I didn’t have a single thing to lose.” She regarded the prone girl with little fascination, and spun on her heel back toward the exit. “We’ll discuss the details on our family merger later, Miyo. I’ll leave letting the families know to you in the meantime~. ...Runa, if you could collect payment for me?”

“You got it, Kirari-chan!”

She strode confidently, only stopping just once to pass an odd, unfamiliar smile to Mary. “Try to keep the doting to my sister next time~.”

“W-What?!”

Kirari laughed all the way to the exit, only cutting off to silence once the door closed. She could hear one of the girls quietly crying by the table, and as Mary looked on, she realized that Ririka refused to meet her gaze.

All Mary could settle on at that moment was numbness.

“Am I becoming that predictable to you, Sayaka~?”

Her eyes fluttered open, just in time to see Kirari whisper-close the door to the hospital room, a lightly small smile playing on blue-tinted lips. It’d been so rare before, but now she enjoyed counting the moments she caught the genuine upturn of her lips. How soft and satisfied the president seemed with that expression. How she fell in love with her again with each moment spared between them.

“Only so I could help you more, President,” she responded back confidently, even as her voice sounded hoarse and foreign through her burned lungs. The last few hours had been a haze of half-remembered nightmares, but she knew at least, by her president’s arrival, that her actions had been correct. She scooted forward and tried to prop herself up using her arms, cursing inwardly as she saw how much the quaked by the smallest bit of pressure.

“Allow me.” Kirari was there in an instant, pressing a cool hand at the small of her back as she slowly pushed her up to a sitting position. It gave her a moment to admire the softness curving her eyes-- gentle and intimate. It was a new discovery, the source of which Sayaka tried not to think too much on. “Recovery will take a bit of time.” She didn’t move her hand.

“You don’t have the time to wait, President.”

Kirari didn’t respond for a moment, taking the time to sit at the side of her bed with barely the space for Sayaka to breathe. She tried not to focus on the lack of distance-- reminded herself that this wasn’t so different from what Kirari normally did. That this didn’t change anything and be okay with what they had, be ok-- “... You should have told me when it first happened,” the admonishing was unexpected. “If I had been wrong--”

“But I knew you wouldn’t be.”

Kirari’s brow furrowed in a strange look, what she almost thought was uncertainty (and that never was the case, so surely, Sayaka was wrong there) but the lopsided smirk made it seem more amused than anything else. She brushed dark bangs away with her free hand, chuckling at the hitching of Sayaka’s breath. “We’ll wait.”

Sayaka spluttered. “Don’t be unreasonable! The amount of chances you’ll be losing just to wait on me is--”

The soft lips moving against hers rendered all arguments, all fire moot within her. She focused on the light fingers that traced her cheek, stopping to lightly graze her jawline as Kirari kept her close. It wasn’t the dramatic kiss Sayaka always imagined it’d be. It was slow, graceful, and as Sayaka shakily latched onto the sleeves on her blazer-- reciprocating the touch she’d been waiting for so long-- opened herself to far more of Kirari than what she thought possible. Her scent, the hair and braids against her skin, the curvature of Kirari’s smile as the president pulled away.

Her hand rested on the back of Sayaka’s neck, keeping their foreheads together, and lips too tantalizingly close for her to resist. “... We move forward together.”

Sayaka had never realized how much more rewarding it was to be at her side than trailing behind.

#kiwi crossposts #kakegurui #fanfiction #multichapter fics #kirasaya #kirarixsayaka #kirari x sayaka #maryxririka #mary x ririka

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doomedhowell · 5 years ago

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Lucky Birthday

Summary: Phil is one of Daniel Howell’s biggest fans. He’s been listening to his music for years, so he couldn’t say no when PJ gives him tickets to his concert. The only problem is that Phil’s blind, and he’s never been to a concert before for obvious reasons. What could possibly go wrong? Or, right?

Genre: AU, Fluff

Word Count: 3,055

Trigger Warnings: swearing

“Peej, I’m not sure about this anymore. You’re sure I look okay? Maybe we shouldn’t go to the concert?” Phil asks nervously as he sits on the edge of his bed, fiddling with the hem of his shirt.

Tonight’s the night. Tonight’s finally night where Phil is going to his first ever concert to see Daniel Howell, someone that he’s been listening to for the past three years religiously. PJ, being a wonderful best friend to Phil, had surprised him with concert tickets a few weeks ago for his twentieth birthday.

It’s Phil’s first ever concert, and he’s extremely nervous. Not for reasons you’d think, though.

You see, Phil is blind. He was born without sight. So, he has some pretty good reasons to be nervous when it comes to doing things like going to concerts. He trusts PJ with his life. PJ has been his best friend since they were tiny babies. But still, anything could happen to him. It’s all Phil can think about.

But, Phil also really wants to hear Daniel’s voice in real life. Daniel has the voice of an angel.

“Come on,” PJ turns around and looks at Phil with raised eyebrows. “You’ve been excited to go for weeks, and now you suddenly want to back out? What’s up? Come on, talk to me, Philip”

Phil cringes at the use of his full name. “I’m worried is all. Don’t you think I have a right to be?” He asks.

“You know I would never let anything bad happen to you. I mean, your mother even trusts me with you, and there’s not many people that woman trust when it comes to her youngest son,” PJ says.

“You do have a point,” Phil mumbles, slowly nodding in agreement.

“We have some pretty great seats. You don’t even have to stand if you don’t want to. I hear his concerts are pretty chill anyways, and I’m sure nobody would care if you sat down,” PJ tells him.

“Okay! Okay. I get it,” Phil sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “I’ll go to the concert, but that doesn’t stop me from being nervous. Just promise that you won’t leave my side no matter what?”

“Of course not. I promise I won’t leave your side, Phil,” PJ says, gently placing a hand on Phil’s shoulder.

“I can’t wait to hear Dan’s voice in real life. I bet he sounds like an angel,” Phil says with a smile.

“Nah, mate. You wanna know who sounds like an angel? Ariana Grande. That was a great concert! Man, you should have gone with us. It was hilarious seeing Chris freak the fuck out over her.”

“Language!” Phil warns, mocking his mom, before laughing. “I’m sorry about that. I just wasn’t confident enough to go to that concert. Besides, I don’t really know her music that well anyways to go. Although, we’ll have to take Chris to see someone he likes again soon so I can witness that.”

“Absolutely,” PJ grins. “Now, come on. We have to finish getting ready, and yes… you look lovely, Phil.”

Finally, the two boys finish getting ready and are now downstairs saying goodbye to Phil’s mother.

“I’m trusting you with my son’s life, PJ,” Kathryn begins. “Normally I would send Martyn with you. Unfortunately, he decided to go out of town this weekend. You have to promise me that you’ll keep an eye on Phil the entire time, alright? You can’t let him out of your sight.”

“Poor choice of words, mum,” Phil says, making PJ giggle.

“Oh, I’m so sorry sweetheart. You know I never mean to offend you,” Kathryn quickly apologizes.

“I’m just joking, mum,” Phil laughs, earning an eye roll from Kathryn. “PJ won’t let anything happen, okay? We’ve gone away together before, and he brought me back in one piece.”

“Need I remind you that on that trip, you nearly killed my son with that reckless driving of yours?”

“Okay, then!” PJ exclaims. “We really must get going now. We don’t want to be late for Phil’s first concert. I want to get there early so we can find good parking spots too. The closer we get, the better. Don’t worry, Kath. I’ll text you updates throughout the night. Phil will be just fine.”

“Phil will be just fine!” Phil repeats as PJ quickly leads him out of the house.

“I swear, it takes us twenty minutes to leave the bloody house when we go anywhere,” PJ grumbles as he helps Phil walk to his car. PJ opens the door for Phil and helps him inside, making sure he’s buckled in.

“You are taking her blind son to a concert filled with thousands of people, where anything could happen, and she won’t be there to do anything about it...” Phil says. “She has a pretty good reason to worry, Peej.”

“I know. I just wish she had a little more faith in me, especially since we’ve been friends for…?”

“Many, many years. I know,” Phil says. “Come on! Can we get going? I want to get there.”

PJ grins. “See? Now you’re getting excited,” he says, before shutting the door. He walks around the car and gets into the driver's seat. “Do we have everything? I’ve got the tickets and money.”

“Then that’s all we need, isn’t it?” Phil asks, looking over in PJ’s direction.

“I suppose so,” PJ chuckles. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

Phil lets out a sudden squeal of excitement. “I can’t believe we’re actually going to see Daniel in person! After all these years. Do you think we’ll get to meet him?”

“Don’t get your hopes up, Phil. I told you that I couldn’t afford VIP at the time I got the tickets,” PJ says.

“I know, but… what if we happen to bump into him when we’re at the concert?” Phil asks.

“Unlikely. There will be thousands of people at this concert, and it’s not like Daniel can just walk out and enjoy himself. His fans will literally attack him the second they see him,” PJ tells him.

Phil lets out a huff of annoyance. “Thanks for crushing my dreams, Peej,” he mumbles.

Luckily, the two boys get to the concert nearly two hours before the concert tickets, and PJ is able to find a parking lot quite close to the building, because he knows that it’s easier on Phil if they don’t have to walk a long distance from the car. PJ totally understands Phil’s reasonings though.

“We’re here,” PJ grins as he looks over at Phil. “We have two hours to kill before the concert. Ready?”

“Kind of. I’m still nervous. I feel like I’m the odd man out, being blind and all,” Phil frowns.

“You can’t think about it like that, Phil. I mean, people with disabilities go to concerts all the time and have the same amount of fun as “normal” people do. You’re not going to have fun if that’s all you think about,” PJ tries to assure him. “We’re going to go in there, buy some food and merch, and head into the building, where we’re going to have the time of our lives. Well, kind of. Daniel’s music isn’t very rock and roll.”

“Daniel’s music is soothing. I told you this when we listened to his music on the way here,” Phil defends.

PJ laughs. “I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. I just prefer being able to rock out at concerts,” he says.

“Fair enough,” Phil says, nodding. “Are we going to go inside now?” He bites his lip nervously.

“Yes, we’re going to go inside now. If you get too panicky while we’re in there, just grab onto my arm, okay? I know you hate doing that because it makes you feel like a child, but I know it helps,” PJ tells him.

Phil slowly nods. “I know. I’ve got my cane, but is it okay if I hold onto you most of the time?”

“Of course,” PJ frowns slightly. “You’re worried about people making fun of you walking with a cane?”

“Well, it happened when I went to school,” Phil mumbles. “I’m sure it’ll happen anywhere else. Besides, having my cane out will just get in the way, and I don’t want that. But, if you get too annoyed…”

“No, no. You know I don’t care if you hold my arm,” PJ says, quickly holding his arm out. “It’s all yours.”

Phil giggles lightly at that, and quickly grabs a hold of PJ’s arm. “Is it always this loud at concerts?”

“Always,” PJ replies as they start walking. “It’ll be even louder once the concert starts. People will be screaming and singing. But, it’ll be a good thing. Quiet concerts are just boring.”

“You’re the concert expert, so I’ll hold you to that,” Phil says.

“Do you wanna get something to eat or drink before we get into the show?” PJ asks.

“Um, yeah… maybe some water would be good,” Phil answers, nodding. He holds onto PJ’s arm as they start walking again. He knows there must be thousands of people at this venue, but he tries not to think about how many people are around him, because otherwise, he’ll get anxious and will want to leave.

PJ leads the way to the food and drink area, where he orders some water for Phil.

“You didn’t have to pay. I have my own money, you know?” Phil complains when PJ hands him his water.

“Yeah, I know I didn’t have to, but I wanted to. Plus, that water was like eight pounds! Fucking expensive. You should be saving your money to buy merch and stuff,” PJ tells him. “It’s no biggie.”

Phil sighs and shakes his head. “Whatever you say Peej,”

PJ grins at Phil, and then he looks over when he hears someone shouting his name. “Dude!” PJ shouts when he sees a couple of his friends running over towards him and Phil. He slips out of Phil’s grip, and embraces his friends in a hug. “Dude, I had no idea you were going to be at this concert?”

“Last minute thing. Dylan over here loves Dan Howell. Had to get him tickets,” one of the boys laugh.

Phil freezes as soon as he realizes that he no longer has a hold of PJ. “Peej?” He asks nervously, and he instantly starts to panic when PJ doesn’t respond to him. This is not good. Not good at all.

Phil doesn’t want to leave, because he has no idea where he is. There could be stairs near him, and there’s hundreds of people surrounding him. But, PJ isn’t there anymore, and he’s scared now.

“Excuse me, are you okay?”

Phil stops as soon as he hears that familiar voice, that voice that he knows so well from listening to interviews and YouTube videos. But, it couldn’t be…? People are screaming louder now. So, maybe?

“Sir?” The voice asks again. “I’m sorry. I was just passing by, and I couldn’t help but notice…”

“D- Dan Howell?” Phil asks with a shaky breath, unable to calm himself. “I…”

Dan chuckles. “Yeah, it’s me. Sorry for sneaking up on you like that. You must be in shock. I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I was just passing by, and saw you. You look panicked,”

Phil wants to kick himself. Dan Howell is right in front of him, and he’s already embarrassed himself. “Well, I- I…” Phil hesitates. Dan must not be able to tell that he’s blind. “My friend disappeared from me, a- and I can’t see. I’m blind. I don’t know where he went.”

“Shit,” Dan whispers, frowning. “You have every reason to be panicking then, huh? Hey, why don’t you come with me? I was just heading to my dressing room before VIP. You can stay there, where it’s safe, and I’ll have my bodyguards help find your friend. Do you trust me?”

“Your Dan Howell,” Phil breathes, still in shock that Dan Howell is speaking to him. Phil knew it would be amazing to see him in concert. But, never in a million years did he think that he of all people would have the opportunity to speak to Dan in person. Dan’s willing to take time out of his busy day to help him. Phil doesn’t know of many celebrities that would do that. “Of course I trust you.”

Dan chuckles. “Here. Take my arm, and I’ll guide you,” he says.

Phil feels around until he finally grabs a hold of Dan’s arm. “A- Are you sure about this? You must be…”

“Making sure my fans are safe is my number one priority,” Dan assures him. “Don’t worry about a thing. Boys, let’s go. We’ve got to get this young lad here to safety.”

Phil follows Dan, making sure to keep a hold of his arm. He has no idea where he’s going, but he hopes that Dan will keep his word, and help him find PJ. Even though he’d love absolutely nothing more than to spend quality time with the one and only Daniel Howell, and hopefully get to converse with him a little bit, he also knows that PJ will eventually notice him missing.

“Here we are. Have a seat on the couch, love,” Dan says as he leads Phil over to the couch and helps him sit down. “You said you were with a friend? Do you know what he looks like? We can help find him.”

Phil nods, and pulls out his phone. “I’ve never seen what he looks like, but I should have photos-”

“Brilliant. What’s your name, by the way? I should have asked that before,” Dan chuckles.

“My name is Phil. I can’t believe I’m meeting you right now. I love your music,” Phil says, before handing his phone to Dan once he has a photo of him and PJ. “His name is PJ. I know he has curly brown hair.”

“Yes, this will help a lot. Jonathon, I need you to find his friend, and bring him back here,” Dan says as he shows the photo to the security guard. “His name is PJ.”

“Yes, sir,” the security guard says before heading out of the dressing room.

“Here you go,” Dan says as he hands Phil back his phone. “How exactly did you lose your friend?”

“I- I don’t know. One second we were buying some water, and then I heard someone PJ’s name, and… so I guess he got distracted. I don’t think he meant to lose me,” Phil explains.

“Ah, I see,” Dan nods, and sits next to him. “Well, it’s lovely to meet you. I hope you enjoy the concert, after we find your friend. Is this your first time seeing me live?”

“This is my first time seeing anyone live,” Phil admits shyly.

“Oh, wow. So I’m your first concert? That’s so cool! I’ll have to make it extra special,” Dan grins.

Dan and Phil spend the next fifteen minutes chatting with each other. Phil is so surprised with how calm Dan Howell is in person. He always thought that he would be. But, he’s so nice and easy to talk to. Phil really enjoys talking to him, and he hates that he’ll probably never talk to him again after this.

Suddenly the door opens again, interrupting Dan and Phil’s conversation.

“Phil!”

Phil jumps when he hears someone shout his name, but he instantly knows that it’s PJ.

“Holy shit,” PJ runs over to Phil and hugs him tightly. “I’m so fucking sorry. I didn’t mean to…”

“I know,” Phil laughs as he hugs PJ back. “I know you didn’t mean to, and it’s okay. I’m not mad. Really.”

“Thank God. I was so worried. Let’s not mention to your mother that I lost you at a Dan Howell concert. She’ll never trust me to take you anywhere alone again,” PJ says, shaking his head. He looks over and his eyes widen when he sees that Dan Howell is sitting right beside Phil.

“Hey, mate,” Dan greets, a grin forming on his face. “You should really keep track of your friends.”

“Your-” PJ lets out a squeak. “Your Dan Howell. Wh- What the fuck?”

“Nice to meet you too,” Dan laughs. “I was just making sure Phil was safe while my bodyguards went looking for you. Phil’s quite a lovely person, you know? You’re lucky to have him as a friend.

“Yeah,” PJ breathes. “Yeah, he’s awesome. Thank you. I mean, f- for looking out for him.”

“Not a problem, dude. Here-” Dan stands up and hands PJ some tickets. “Better seats for you and Phil, and I’d like to give Phil some merch, if you don’t mind.”

Dan gives PJ a free t-shirt, while he gives Phil a hoodie and a poster.

“Lovely meeting you!” Dan shouts as PJ and Phil are led out of the dressing room. “Enjoy the show!”

“Thank you!” Phil shouts, looking back even though he can’t see Dan. “PJ, we just meet Dan Howell!”

“I know,” PJ laughs. “So, maybe losing you wasn’t such a bad thing after all?”

“I guess not, but please never lose me again. That was the most terrifying thing ever,” Phil complains.

“Really sorry. I honestly didn’t mean to. I got distracted when I saw some of my friends from art school. Here, let me see what he wrote on your poster-” PJ says as he carefully grabs the poster from Phil. “Thanks for being such a wonderful fan. You’re awesome. Blah blah blah,” he looks down a bit and then his eyes widen the second he sees that Dan has left his number on the poster for Phil. “Holy shit, dude.”

“What?” Phil asks, stopping dead in his tracks. “What is it, Peej?”

“Dan fucking Howell gave you his number!” PJ exclaims, letting out a laugh. “Dude, you got so lucky tonight! Talk about a lucky birthday, mate.”

“What?” Phil squeaks with shock. “Th- There’s no way…”

“No, I’m not lying! He left his number,” PJ tells him, shaking Phil excitedly.

Phil can’t help but smile. Dan Howell gave him his number. So today won’t be the last time that he’ll get to talk to him. Phil knows exactly what he’s doing the second he gets home from the concert tonight.

#phanfiction #phanfic #phan #au #fluff #blind #disability #famous #fangirl!phil

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nellie-elizabeth · 5 years ago

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Grey's Anatomy: My Shot (16x08)

Oh, Grey's Anatomy. You wouldn't be you if you didn't have manufactured coincidences popping up around every corner. I loved this episode, for the most part! Let's take a look.

Cons:

So, the thing about doing a medical drama/soap opera is that a lot of really unrealistic stuff has to happen in order to keep the drama quotient up. The characters in this show have been through more trauma than is remotely realistic for any group of people, and over the sixteen seasons of this show, every single character has done stuff that's super illegal and messed up and bad. When you have an episode like this, where Meredith's past gets dredged up, you're forced to realize how completely improbable it is that Meredith would still be allowed to practice medicine in the first place. Or frankly, how Richard and Alex would be allowed to continue, what with committing assault, breaking the law, the list goes on. And that's fine, it doesn't matter most of the time on this show. But when a spotlight is shone on all of the things that have happened over the years, it starts to feel a bit more shark-jumpy than I'm comfortable with.

Also, I can take some cheesiness, but all the patients rushing in to testify for Meredith, and the letter from Cristina, and letters from Addison, Callie, Arizona, April... come on. That's a little much, don't you think? I wanted this to be more grounded in reality. Meredith probably should be taken to task for a lot of what she's done. There could have been a better balance there, with some of her bad behavior actually being condemned. I think they tried to do that with Bailey, but for me it didn't quite stick the landing.

Also Jackson and Maggie - ugh. Please stoppppp. Maggie is really upset after killing her cousin, and Jackson is there to comfort her. I didn't strictly hate this at first, and thought maybe they were going for an easing of the tension, like the two of them could be friendly with each other and stop resenting one another so much. And then Jackson leans in for a kiss, stops himself, and Maggie kicks him out. She tells Meredith: "I hate someone I used to love... I don't want to see or speak to him ever again." That line, about hating someone she used to love, is actually really powerful, and if Jackson and Maggie weren't such a stupid train-wreck, I might really have liked it. But - but why? Why does she hate him? What did he do that was so awful? They had a somewhat crappy relationship and Maggie felt like Jackson didn't respect her, and it fell apart. But Maggie's anger feels misplaced, somehow. I was so happy last week to have a story that was about Maggie that didn't annoy me, since she's become so irritating over the years. And now here, it has to be about Jackson again, doesn't it? Those two were the worst things to ever happen to each other on this show.

Pros:

In perhaps a direct contradiction to what I said above, it was a bit fun to look back over the years and remember all the crazy crap that Meredith has done. Obviously a lot of the context has been stripped away, but the fact remains, she's done a lot of messed up stuff! This episode brings up ancient (yet legendary) history like the LVAD wire, stuff like the Alzheimer's trial, a patient Meredith had on her first day as a doctor, and more recent stuff like Alex assaulting Andrew, and Schmitt being the one to turn Meredith in to Bailey. I'm a sucker for longevity. I like sinking in to a story for a long, long time, and it's cool to do an episode like this where you can actually pull footage from back when George W. Bush was still POTUS and examine a character's life through so many years.

Koracick has a brief role in this episode, and we can mark this as a good appearance for him. They trashed his character early in the season in an attempt to get us on board with Owen/Teddy, but they seem to be softening that approach and rehabilitating him a bit here. He's still a cocky bastard a lot of the time, but when Amelia tells him she needs his help, he immediately agrees, and does everything he can to help the patient. I really love him and hope he gets the happiness he deserves.

And Amelia and Link also have a brief moment, where we see their relationship continue to develop and strengthen. Amelia is worried she might kill the doctor who killed Derek, which is why she lets Koracick do it. That's a sign of maturity and strength from Amelia, her ability to step away and let someone else perform the surgery. And when that man dies on the table, she can be confident that she wasn't to blame. Link comforts her through the confusion of the situation, and it's just another brick in the foundation of trust they are building between them.

I like the DeLuca/Meredith drama, actually. There's this moment when Meredith yells at the doctor who killed Derek, calling Derek "the love of her life," and I immediately thought... oh no. Are we going to do the whole drama thing where DeLuca decides he can't compete with Derek's memory or whatever? But instead, they go for something slightly different. Basically, DeLuca knows he's never going to replace Derek. But he wanted to work towards something, to be Meredith's partner in a real way. He's realizing now that he doesn't have Meredith's respect, that she doesn't view him as an equal, and he worries she never will. He basically breaks up with her, but frames it as giving her a chance to think things over. I like Andrew a lot. I like Andrew and Meredith together, I think it's genuinely interesting. It's not as intense as Meredith and Derek, but the show has done a smart thing by not trying to make it like that. I'm on board for whatever comes next for them, as I think a break-up plot thread with these two might actually be interesting, whether or not they end up together in the end.

The Bailey/Richard dynamic as explored in this episode was really intriguing to me. I was complaining a few weeks ago about Bailey's over-sized reaction to what Meredith did, but here we get more of an explanation. Not only does she feel betrayed by someone that she raised to be a doctor, but she feels betrayed by Richard as well, and feels jealous of the way he will bend the rules for Meredith. We even find out that Meredith didn't originally match with the hospital, and that Richard made a call to make it happen all those years ago. That's such an interesting "sliding doors" moment! Richard then flips the narrative on Bailey, however, saying that Meredith is family and he'd trust her to back him up the same way he backed her up. He says he feels the same way about Bailey, or he did, before Bailey turned her back on them for their actions.

It's not even necessarily a cruel moment from Richard - he's saying it because he knows now what Bailey is feeling, and he knows how to get underneath that feeling, to an even bigger truth. And it works - Bailey goes back in to the hearing and says that while Meredith Grey is a pain in the ass and deserved consequences for her actions, she's also a fine surgeon and doesn't deserve to lose her medical license. Who knows whether or not that was the tipping point, but at the end of the day, Meredith wins and she's still a doctor!

It was interesting to bring in the doctor whose negligence resulted in Derek's death. Frankly, I vacillated about which section of this review to put my discussion of this in, because I can't quite decide how to feel about it. The whole point here is that Meredith is unconventional, but ultimately very good at her job. She saves lives. It's interesting to contrast that with this man who hasn't broken any rules, but who killed someone. He's not only allowed to remain a doctor, he's allowed to vote on Meredith's fitness to remain a doctor. This is so manifestly unfair that it's clear to the viewer that Meredith is in the right. But this man's presence, and then later the influx of testimonials from patients and fellow doctors, overshadows Meredith's crime. It's interesting in that I wonder if there will be lasting consequences - will she be under heavier scrutiny when it comes to pro bono cases, or will this be the one thing the finally tarnishes her reputation? I'm excited to find out.

Schmitt has the setup for a future plot thread here, as he confesses to being the one to turn Meredith in, unwittingly. As his fellow interns find out, he watches as they lose respect for him, especially Helm. This could be so cool. As I said, it's not as if Meredith doesn't deserve some sort of consequence for her bad behavior. And what was Schmitt supposed to do, just trust on blind faith that this wasn't a mistake, that Meredith had done it on purpose? Was he supposed to put his career on the line for her? That's an unreasonable expectation, and I hope he stands up for himself, with the support of his boyfriend. It's time to start giving some of these characters more screen-time.

That's it! Another long review, for a pretty solid episode. I think next week is the mid-season finale!

8/10

#review #grey's anatomy #grey's anatomy review #greys anatomy #greys anatomy review #grey's abc #greys abc

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mittensmorgul · 6 years ago

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1.11 picks up right where 1.10 left off-- literally with Sam on the phone with John for the first time in who even knows how long, possibly since the night Sam left for Stanford four years earlier. (We know Dean has had occasional contact with Sam over that time, but since John’s “if you walk out that door, don’t you ever come back” was something we don’t even know about concretely for a while yet.)

John had called Dean’s phone, though. Dean’s still the obedient son John expects to follow orders, and he needs them safely out of the way again so sends them to hunt a specific and very out-of-the-way entity who kills two victims every year like clockwork. And isn’t that fascinating, another annual event thing that John has “allowed” to continue happening for who knows how long, only to have this conveniently tucked away as a case to send Sam and Dean on now... How many couples died since John learned of this happening, and yet only NOW it becomes vital to stop it? Yeah, fascinating.

Something different happens on this phone call, though. WE see John on the other end of the line. This order does come directly from him this time, but we don’t know what HE knows about how far his investigation into the thing that killed Mary has come, and what danger provoked him into giving this assignment at this particular time. Almost as if we now know that he’s being manipulated as much as Sam and Dean are by the larger narrative, with the introduction of Meg.

Because as much as taking this case kept Sam and Dean safe (in John’s mind, they were out of the way of whatever he was doing on his end that he believed he was closing in on the demon that killed Mary), it also put Sam in the exact right position to rebel against the order exactly as he did, and threw him directly into Meg’s path.

John: Listen, Sammy, that’s why I’m calling. You and your brother, you gotta stop looking for me. Alright, now, I need you to write down these names. Sam: Names? What names, Dad—talk to me, tell me what’s going on. John: Look, we don’t have time for this. This is bigger than you think, they’re everywhere. Even us talking right now, it’s not safe. Sam: No. Alright? No way. Dean: Give me the phone. John: I have given you an order. Now, you stop following me, and you do your job. You understand me? Now, take down these names.

and

Dean: Dad said it wasn’t safe. For any of us. I mean, he obviously knows something that we don’t, so if he says to stay away, we stay away. Sam: I don’t understand the blind faith you have in the man. I mean, it’s like you don’t even question him. Dean: Yeah, it’s called being a good son! You’re a selfish bastard, you know that? You just do whatever you want. Don’t care what anybody thinks. Sam: That’s what you really think? Dean: Yes, it is.

And within the context of this particular case, in this particular town, the elders were all aware of what was going on all along, had deliberately engineered this annual sacrifice to the god who made their town prosperous. It’s only their niece from the younger generation who doesn’t know the horrific secret of the town’s success-- and the fact that her parents were likely sacrificed to the god years ago.

EMILY: I came here when I was thirteen. I lost my parents. Car accident. My aunt and uncle took me in.

“““““Car accident.”““““ Like all the other couples sacrificed to the god whose cars broke down on the road out of town. It might never be stated outright, but it’s so heavily implied as to be obvious.

Rather than sacrifice themselves, the older generation hides their secret and goes on in desperation to sacrifice the next generation instead.

It’s also fascinating how Dean attempts to deal with the reality of the supernatural when talking to the “general public.”

GIRL: We just stopped for gas. And, uh, the guy at the gas station saved our lives. DEAN: Is that right? MAN: Yeah, one of our brake lines was leaking. We had no idea. He was fixing it for us. DEAN: (concerned) Nice people. MAN: Yeah. DEAN: So, how long till you’re up and runnin’? MAN: Sundown. DEAN: Really. (He thinks about it for a minute.) To fix a brake line? (The man nods.) I mean, you know, I know a thing or two about cars. I could probably have you up and running in about an hour. I wouldn’t charge you anything. GIRL: You know, thanks a lot, but I think we’d rather have a mechanic do it. DEAN: Sure. I know. (He pauses.) You know, it’s just that these roads. They’re not real safe at night. (The couple exchange a look.) GIRL: I’m sorry? DEAN: I know it sounds strange, but, uh—you might be in danger. MAN: (annoyed) Look, we’re trying to eat. Okay? DEAN: Yeah. (He looks disappointed. The couple seems worried by DEAN.) You know, my brother could give you this puppy dog look, and you’d just buy right into it.

In a situation where Scotty knows the full truth, and is involved in the manipulation of these people into becoming sacrifices to their god, luring them to what they believe is safety but is a trap... Dean couldn’t just tell these people the whole truth. So instead of just talking them into saving their own lives, or trying to help them directly, he had to sit and wait for them to be in direct danger from the scarecrow before being able to save them. Interesting in context of all the times they’ve had to confront this exact topic in s14 (and the way they’ve slowly evolved to that point over the entire series). Basically all of 14.16 was about this-- about why they just can’t tell the truth. It’s been addressed so much in recent seasons from all sorts of directions, too, in 13.01 how Dean reveals everything to the sheriff with a dead-eyed stare, to how Jack must learn to manage truth vs lies in 13.04, right the way through Jack’s “Stop lying!” in 14.20. It’s been an interesting evolution.

And here we have Chuck’s pet themes, too:

Stacy: Sweetheart, that’s what sacrifice means. Giving up something you love for the greater good. The town needs to be safe. The good of the many outweighs the good of the one.

And the townspeople know what they’re doing is horrific:

SCOTTY: You don’t understand, Harley. All of us here—It’s our responsibility to protect the town. HARLEY: I understand. Better than all of you. I’m the one that gives ‘em directions. I’m the one that sends ‘em down to the orchard. SHERIFF: Harley, please. HARLEY: We all close our doors. Look the other way. Pretend we can’t hear the screams. But this is different, this—this is murder. STACY: It’s angry with us. Already the trees are beginning to die. Tonight’s the seventh night of the cycle. Our last chance. HARLEY: If the boy has to die, the boy has to die. But why does it have to be her?

Meanwhile, Meg learns plenty about Sam, but still she can’t stop Sam from turning around and going back to save Dean when he’s in danger:

MEG: I love my parents. And they wanted what’s best for me. They just didn’t care if I wanted it. I was supposed to be smart. But not smart enough to scare away a husband. (SAM smiles.) It’s just…because my family said so, I was supposed to sit there and do what I was told. So I just went on my own way instead. (SAM stares at her.) I’m sorry. The things you say to people you hardly know. SAM: No, no, it’s okay. I know how you feel. Remember that brother I mentioned before, that I was road-tripping with? (MEG nods.) It’s, uh, it’s kind of the same deal. MEG: And that’s why you’re not riding with him anymore? (SAM shakes his head. MEG raises her beer bottle.) Here’s to us. The food might be bad, and the beds might be hard. But at least we’re living our own lives. And nobody else’s.

and

DEAN: Sam. You were right. You gotta do your own thing. You gotta live your own life. SAM: Are you serious? DEAN: You’ve always known what you want. And you go after it. You stand up to Dad. And you always have. Hell, I wish I—anyway….I admire that about you. I’m proud of you, Sammy. SAM: I don’t even know what to say. DEAN: Say you’ll take care of yourself. SAM: I will. DEAN: Call me when you find Dad.

But while Sam had left on foot, made it to a bus station only to be told he’d have to wait anyway, and given the alternative of “you could buy a car” if he wanted to get there faster... he’d resigned himself to waiting it out for the bus until he suspected that Dean was in trouble. When he felt the urgency of finding Dean as opposed to the vague latent urgency of finding John, well... he was willing to steal a car to find Dean. And a big deal is made of Sam’s discomfort over this fact.

Emily manages to end the cycle of sacrifices to this god, burning the source of the town’s connection to it and effectively leaving the entire town to die, but poor Sam and Dean are still stuck in the larger sacrificial cycle of the bigger story.

And we also learn that Meg is also trapped following the orders of a mysterious “Father” she only has contact with through the creepiest telephone ever. She literally sacrifices a human being to use his blood to make the call. Her side of the conversation that we hear, though? Makes it clear in the larger context (and knowing what happens over the next 14 years in the story) that Meg is just as in the dark as Sam and Dean are about the Bigger Plans in store for everyone:

MEG: It’s not that kind of call. (She pulls out a knife and slits the van driver’s throat. She holds the bowl under his neck and lets his blood pour into it.) Thanks for the ride. (She begins stirring the blood in the bowl with her finger.) Tire quiero patem me a di. (The blood swirls around and a silver orb appears in the middle of the liquid.) It makes no sense. I could’ve stopped Sam. Hell, I could’ve taken them both. Why let them go? (She pauses, seemingly listening to someone the audience cannot hear.) Yes. (She pauses again.) Yes. (She pauses one more time.) Yes, Father. (The screen fades to black.)

I could’ve stopped Sam. Hell, I could’ve taken them both. Why let them go?

She doesn’t, as far as we know, get a direct answer. Just more orders. And for us, from way out in the future at this point, who know how little Azazel (her father) himself knew about the larger plans beyond his own role in messing with Sam and Dean Winchester, the apocalypse, and now Chuck’s hand in all of it? Heck, it’s spirals all the way down. Sacrifice, manipulation, and following orders, all part of the Grand Plan of the entire universe.

#spn 1.11 #spn 14.20 #spn 13.01 #spn 13.04 #spn 14.16 #spn 12.18 #because these themes happened then too in another variation of the microcosm of the whole #winchester family dynamics #lies and damn lies #it's spirals all the way down #s14 hellatus rewatch #spiders georg of the tnt loop #that's what free will is #since they literally do not even have a concept of how badly they're all being manipulated yet D:#this is all so far above their current paygrade but they're learning fast... at least it seems like it in s1 #if only they knew then what they know now...#what a freaking epic journey to enlightenment they'e yet to live :')

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eb-byestelle · 6 years ago

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A word about Kaname

From the first moment when I set up an account here, I was thinking about writing a text dedicated to Kaname. Initially, I expressed my opinion through debates, editions and analysis of small details. However, it's time to fulfill my original desire and write my own Kaname Kuran's analysis.

There are already interesting, insightful analyzes of Kaname. However, none of these texts is based mainly on the screen adaptation of manga. My journey with Vampire Knight began with the anime. That's where I saw Kaname for the first time and he immediately caught my attention. So I decided that it would be an interesting difference, especially because that's where he made such a big impression on me that remained inside of me forever. Therefore, I want to not only present my analysis, but also to prove how much the screen adaptation reveals. In the second part, I will complement the analysis with manga information and juxtapose with knowledge from anime.

I have to admit that at the beginning of watching the series I fell into the trap called "poor Zero". His endless, tangible despair was emphasized in each episode. However, at the same time I started to like Kaname. In a completely different way. I was charmed and fascinated by his person. I wondered how many intriguing elements are hidden inside of him. It was visible from the very beginning. Tenderness, intelligence, strength, but also weaknesses, loneliness and this kind of darkness, which gave rise to numerous questions about how it actually came into being in him.

Soon after, when the "fumes of suffering" spread around Zero subsided, I realized that I wasn't a fan of his character, but I only felt sorry for him. With time, compassion also disappeared when I saw how many opportunities for a better life Zero lost through his doubts and the lack of a distinct personality. Pity turned into indifference. From then on, Kaname mattered.

One of the things that intrigued me in him, were various kinds of contradictions. On the one hand, he teased a vampire on level D (Zero), on the other hand he cooperated with a human, what's more, a former hunter (Cross Kaien), while hunters are his natural enemies. He also seemed to be respectful of the hunters. In other words, he respected and helped someone who in theory was his enemy. What’s more, he trusted him completely in the matter of protecting the most precious person for him.

What's more, he treated badly only one vampire of level D. - As if he had a goal in this... - I thought. Then it turned out that he wanted to instil in Zero hatred of pure-blood vampires to he would kill Rido (based on knowledge from the second season. We know from the manga that it was not just about Rido.) This was confirmed by the Kaname's satisfaction of the Zero's big hatred for him. Who wants to someone else hate him? O.O Someone who has in this some purpose. What is the purpose of a person who treats humans with respect and can love as much as he loves Yuuki? The goal is obvious - the help the weakers and the protection of the loved one.

He felt a rage that Zero was hurting Yuuki and jealousy, seeing him with her, which made that the conflict with Zero in contrary to some opinions, for me looked quite funny. I felt like I would see two boys from elementary school, where one, seeing how the other is hitting on to his girlfriend, glues the rubber to his hair, and this other one for each time thoughtlessly lets himself be provokedand and in anger he throws the books in this first one ^^"

I began to wonder that if wouldn't be his plan and his feelings for Yuuki, Zero would be probably completely indifferent for him...

What's more, besides of Seiren, I didn't see him making for himself any other servants, while as a pureblood, he could easily create a whole army of faithful subjects. Based on the Seiren's submissive behavior, more humble than the others in relation to Kaname, I concluded that she must have been a vampire of lower rank, probably created by Kaname, and basing on his tenderness towards people, it probably happened due to some sudden circumstances. (VKM explained this situation in an interesting way, combining the facts from volume 10 - Hino, thank you that among so many hopeless chapters of VKM you gave us inter alia the chap. 4 xD)

On the one hand, he told others what to do. On the other hand, when Ichijou objected to him to protect Shiki, Kaname didn't use his vampire power of pure blood to control the will of Ichijou. He didn't do anything to him. He just respected his decision. Then, when Ichijou, (already as a theoretical traitor), offered to kill Asato Ichiou by himself, Kaname only patted his shoulder and went. And he never punished him. He always liked and respected him.

The only person of the lower level from which he sometimes joked, was Aidou. Personally I have a feeling that apart from the Aidou's unruly character, who sometimes had to be "tame" (expecially that we talk about the vampire's world, where everything is even more dangerous and "unruly" behaviours are rather inadvisable) Kaname didn't respect in him that excessive, blind obedience. This is especially evident when they were a children and Kaname simply accepted the bitter words of Aidou, who initially didn't want to be friends with him. This, by the way, gave me reason to think about Kaname's self-esteem, because as we know, he didn't to Aidou anything wrong. They both just then met each other. I began to wonder if under the facade of self-confidence and always raised head there was a person who just despised herself. And if so, why?

What's more, none of the students of the night classes were intimidated by Kaname, nor were they offered any payment (I mean the two most popular ways to get someone's favors). It made that I saw it's not Kaname who is the real ruthless tyrant (although he knew for sure how to use a situation!) but they are these one who are blind to the principles instilled in them, which govern the world of the aristocracy.

I knew that his haughtiness was caused by inter alia from his social position. The high-ranking people or public figures in our world behave in a similar way. It's known that they are like this "on public", and different "in private", that's why his alleged "conceit" on public was nothing new to me. Especially when we see how humble and warm he can be in private, with Yuuki or in the past towards Juuri and Haruka. Because of the enormous power and high social position (basically the highest) he felt the burden of responsibility on himself, passing only the most important details to the others. This is visible when Aidou says that he wants to know more, on which Kaname says to Aidou not waste his life on this.

Another thing which impressed me exceptionally and which as a first draw my attention, was openness in terms of feelings. Quite often in anime/manga I see an annoying "smokescreens", games like from kindergarten, the escapes while most of series, excuses. Sometimes these "plays" are very cute, but how long? And why to behave like an idiot, don't respect a girl, or try to hide the own weakness... Meanwhile, in Kaname's case, we can see clearly what he feels for Yuuki. That he loves her, that he wants to be with her. In his feelings he is steady and determined. He's toward her nice, gallant, romantic, openly expresses feelings with words and gestures. Even when he hides something in front of her, he does it to protect her and move her away from worries. I admit that when I saw this, I felt a breeze of freshness, that after seeing so many infantile stories in other serieses I see a man who in an open and mature way offers the beloved girl his love.

Later I saw who he was before the tragedy with Rido. He loved Juuri and Haruka as if they were his real parents. Besides of this he didn't agree to Yuuki would be kept locked up. I also saw that he tried to destroy Rido by himself. When it turned out that it was impossible, he created a plan which not only gave him the highest probability of fulfilling his goal and saving his loved ones, what he couldn't do by himself. This plan also limited the number of victims to a minimum, focusing on one warrior with enormous power, which had the task of destroying the source of evil. The others were only supposed to "cover the rear".

I saw his weakness, deep sorrow and fear of losing Yuuki. It also moved me and gave me a food for thought...

I emphasize that all the time I am based only on anime.

Already there I've seen many elements of Kaname's personality worth attention. I was then so charmed by what I saw in the screen adaptation, that tbh, I felt that it's enough for me. Already then, I saw that he was a good friend, lover, brother, son, vampire. He had besides the most beautiful voice I’ve ever heard among seiyuus, but ok, it’s just btw ^^

Later, out of curiosity, I looked into the manga.

For a few obvious reasons, I'm happy that I did it. I obtained further valuable information about Kaname, including I discovered one of his greatest secrets - his age. This is very important information which changes many things. It must be included in the analysis, because in combination with his experiences it explains a lot of his behavior. Already in the anime series I knew that Kaname is the ancestor of vampires, i.e. he's not 18, as it seemed earlier. However, the information that he's 10,000 years old, makes us realize how deeply emotionally burned must be this old, tired vampire. It shows how much he had to survive, see, experience. It's unbelievable quantity of time... For some time he was so lonely that he even didn’t remember what’s his name. It's also a problematic element, because it makes it difficult to analyze the character of Kaname, i.e. someone older than any creatures known to us, even those from manga. What's more, he was born by the human while he was an immortal vampire. For these two reasons, it is different than all the vampires known in the VK universe (the another ancestors also had this second feature but none of them was so old). Fortunately, with a little deeper thought it's possible. Although still difficult ;3

What's more, it turned out that he already had once lost a close person, very suddenly and tragically, which explains his tendency to obsessions and anxiety and his fear that a loved one may be harmed or killed during his absence or temporary loss of control. Hence his possessiveness while some time.

I also got to know how much good things he did for others. Medicines for people from his own blood, help them in the collect crops, drinking blood only in a gentle way, without having to change people into his servants, help the hunters and others during the war, being one of those who initiated pacifism and living in peace. He was the first who tried to create a medicine which might to change a vampires into the humans, what is one of the evidences. He was also in a distant past the king of vampires, just and legendary to the level that Juuri and Haruka decided to named their first child by his name. (I attach a link to the post, where did the inspiration come from to mention this interesting detail, which is the giving a names in royal families >>Click<<)

These events also prompted me to ask a question: Does Kaname in the depth of his heart dream about being a human? Not being condemned to endless life, painful vampire's desires, lack of sun, a huge power that carries so much? I wrote about it during the post "Humanity”. >>Click<< Here I will only mention about it.

Next we see his boundless sacrifice because of his love to Yuuki, the sacrifice his own happiness, his own physical state (I mean discomfort because of the thirst for her blood), and his own morals. Seeing his personality, attitude and the fact that for the first 9995 years he was the definition of the word "kindness", it's ridiculous for me to say that giving Zero pain was for him completely indifferent all the time. I think that at the very beginning, while creating his plan, he felt bad and simply rejected his conscience for love and higher purposes, creating a paradox of "light and darkness" in which he started to be. If it were otherwise, the plan would bring to him a joy and satisfaction, while for real he felt doubt and self-loathing.

I was also moved by the fact that Kaname continued to help people, despite the fact that despite his previous help and goodness, they banished him because of who he was, calling him embodied blasphemy. I felt that I saw something similar before. Already in the arch 1, when Aidou rejected Kaname's friendship, and Kaname's reaction was not astonishment but the acceptance of this information, as if it was something even more correct, than if Aidou would accepted him. It's sad that someone so valuable had such a low self-esteem. What's more, his paradox of "light and shadow" deepened this state even more.

I began to ask myself why he had chosen such a way to achieve the goal instead of the previously chosen path or some other way. We already know what his purpose was. But why did he choose just this way of its realization?

Summing up his enslavement by Rido, the inability to total kill his enemy, an unique, bordering on absurdity the creature who are the hunters' twins, where one of them, thanks to the devouring of a part of the brother already in the womb, he made more powerful than other hunters, which is the most effective material on the killer, combined with the extreme long age of Kaname, and therefore also a big life experience, disappointments and internal burnout, I can confidently say that the way of achieving the goal was in his case created by one simple factor:

Lack of faith. And more specifically, the loss of faith over the years and the many experiences which led to this. Faith has been replaced by fear, despair and determination.

Everything he did in the past, before the situation with Rido, and what many of the characters of the series did, who, as we know, are young and hopeful, it was driven by faith, as evidenced by the fact that these are the actions more moral than effective. I.e. those one which don't give the same effectiveness as actions devoid of something what increases the possibility of defeat and is called "morality". The medicine is a good idea. But can it be done? How long will it take? How much damage will happen in the meantime? This is one of those plans that are not an ax that cuts through, but a subtle step forward, not knowing whether the goal will be achieved, and even if yes, it's not known when and what will happen during this time. While the plan to annihilate Rido and other pureblood vampires with someone's hands, though not very ethical, was the most effective.

It's the style of action of a person who has lost faith and puts forward the most radical steps, at which the margin of error is as small as possible.

As we know, pureblood vampires have for thousands of years preyed on the weaker, giving in to the instincts. After years, not much changed. Ex-humans continue to walk on the Earth, and purebloods after the overthrow of the corrupt council and hence, after losing the „brakes”, became even more dangerous. It comes to some kind of generalization that these creatures are a source of danger, because if in case of vampires' lower-level the people are able to simply win with them by anti-vampire weapons, in case of the pureblood vampires, they are on powerful enough that the weapon itself turns out to be not enough.

There are more an examples like this. Let Yuuki, who is still inexperienced, go outside, where there are swarms of enemies, which raises the level of danger that she will be killed or wounded, expecially in that "dangerous" year? Or to bet on effectiveness and not let her go out? After killing the council and taking control by a Kaname, other pureblood vampires started to plotting something secretly. Kaito one time mentioned about that. The evidence was visible at the vampire banquet, and the worry about Yuuki's life was justified already on the same day when Yuuki went outside. Kaname told her directly that he would do everything to Yuuki could go outside again. He knew, however, that he could allow it only when the danger would be as small as possible. Otherwise, he could rely almost exclusively on the aforementioned faith. Especially, that in the main series Yuuki was the opposite of the word "cautious" (fortunately in VKM it has changed).

I emphasized the killing of Rido, because it's possible you could have noticed that Kaname fueled the most in Zero the hatred to vampires during the plan associated with Rido in arc 1. After his death, Kaname, even though he still wanted Zero to kill all pureblood vampires, no longer he was so involved in manipulation and after some time he took matters into his own hands. This is imo an interesting detail that shows Kaname's independence, which he has previously shown through thousands years of struggle for survival in the world just after climate changes. This is also another proof that this loss of faith was what caused such a radical system of action, which I personally called the " extreme/last resort", chosen at the end of the journey, when the previous methods didn't work.

Even in case of fact he and Yuuki love each other, Kaname has lost faith that he is able to make her happy although, as we know, Yuuki was happy thanks to him a lot of times, she was ready for a relationship and she wanted to start everything once again. Besides it was also the effect of the previously mentioned low self-esteem. Seeing him as an old, tired vampire and her as an inexperienced teenager, I see some sense in this, nonetheless still seeing how great love connects them, I believe that it could have been avoided. But... after all, this is story from the type of the goddamn romantic tragedy xp However, I think that if Kaname was with Yuuki now, when they both tasted a long vampire life and a full of sun human life, I see even more potential than in the main series! But I have already talked about this on the occasion of another post ;)

Better define the matter of his, as we say, "gray" morality, it would be an absolute mistake to regard him as a villain or antagonist, i.e. a person "black" morally. For the informations for these „less informed” - He's not! Mentioned in the first part the higher goals, protection of the weaker, of the beloved girl, everything this is beautiful, noble, magnanimous. Nobody should forget about all of this, trying to understand this character. Only he also wasn't a "white" moraly person. Because who is? This is one of the many aspects that makes us see how complex the charakter of Kaname is.

Regarding his relationship with Yuuki and some single elements which have aroused controversy, I have already explained many of these behaviors. These so-called "abuse" are really the kind of overprotection which is the result of the factors discussed and has nothing to do with the cruelty. Hovewer I decided, that it's worth mentioning the famous sentence in which Kaname says that if he and Yuuki are separated, or he will kill her (which we know, that would never happen, so I don't know how idiotic someone has to be to believe it) or let her kill him. I case of these ones who say that these words are something bad - How many romances these people have seen in their life? Especially those where love is such a huge and twisted that almost crazy? Please... Such a sad texts in the style of :"If you leave me, I will die.", are in so many romances that it's just surprises me that someones are still surprised by this. This is in movies etc. one of the most popular expressions of love so deep and crazy that a person just cannot imagine life without a beloved and prefers to die than to be far away from a loved one.

Generally, in term of the knowledge from manga about Kaname, I have undoubtedly seen there its cumulating, widening wounds, suffering, weakness and burnout, through which his mental condition deteriorated significantly, resulting a wobbly attitudes and behaviors. I especially see this in comparison with the behavior of the "present" human Kaname without those traumatic memories.

I also saw, how much Yuuki and Kaname love and desire each other. Almost to the madness. The romantic scenes of these two have undoubtedly aroused my fascination. Among the various romances in the world of manga and anime, which I have seen so far, this couple is for me an intriguing difference.

At the end of the series Kaname changed the method of operation to the method of cooperation and sacrificed himself for the others, which once again proved his inner chivalry and devotion. Where did this sudden change of decision come from? I think, besides the absurd, which will be for me ridiculous probably forever, ie. that the furnance started to cool down just then, and Kaname as the most powerful vampire and protoplast, was the perfect material for a new weapon, came to the fore his gentle heart, which despite the "ash" that settled on it, still beat in his chest and could love more than ever. Kaname, regardless of the form of realisation the goal, wanted to die and he wanted to do it for the sake of Yuuki and the weaker. Appeared the opportunity, to instead of still getting own hands dirty, fulfil the goal in a more subtle way and renew the belief that even not fully effective actions are able to produce results. As we see in VKM, the lower effectiveness makes the enemies are still lurking, the danger is still big. But Kaname's wish to end the endless journey in the name of who and what he loved and wanted to protect, was fulfilled. What is beautiful - his hidden wish of being human too.

However, there are reasons why, despite so much valuable information, I'm partially discomforted because of the fact that I looked into the manga. I saw that the continuation is heading for something that, although it's still deep and moving, becomes more and more forced and overly dramatic. So dramatic that almost preposterous...

After volume 10, the plot became much more complicated, and at the same time, paradoxically devoid of the important details which we got in less complex arc 1 (regarding arc 1 ofc), which is imo a lack of respect for each character and the overall potential of the series.

Manga also turned out to be much more bothering. There appeared some single moments which became a "stodge" for the Kaname's anti-fans, whose immediately caught it, removed from the context and deprive a sense. While a story is not just single moments. They are part of a larger whole, which is accompanied by numerous elements and sources of their creation. While with the aforementioned more quanity of informations and explanations, more explicit statements, this could have been avoided, or at least reduced. Now VKM tries to fix these "shortcomings" and slowly closes the mouth of these the more embittered, showing Kaname in a very good light, highlighting the elements of his personality, which should have been even more highlighted already in the main series. This is a big plus for this addition, but it's hard not to notice that the first seed was sown.

It's interesting that the season 3 has never created. The plot of the first two seasons, ie. the first 9 volumes, I liked it the most (volume 10 was published after the anime, and was a bit filler, but for the chap 48 it's worth reading ;3). Some minor modifications in the anime, like changing the ending, subtracting certain scenes, adding others. It all showed me how good this series is able to look like, when someone new will come and manage to fix this and that. (Maybe besides of cutting the fight with Rido, which was however much better in the manga). I think it was one of the reasons why the season 3 was never created. The quanity of mistakes which Hino did after the volume 10 is really difficult to fix.

As we see, the anime shows many Kaname's features. Manga is also an important supplement, especially if someone besides of the general outline wants to really explore this special character. In anime we can also see how he moves, what voice's intonation he has. This is also very important to judge someone properly. In terms of perceiving anime, the opinions are divided, some people are delighted, others not. For me, generally the anime was a a little bit reworked copy of the manga, so I don't see much difference in the reception of this character. Music also did a lot, beautifully fitting into and emphasize the pop-gothic, melancholy climate of the series. However, I don't hide that I have always lamented that in terms of graphics (and a bit in term of animaction), the anime is limping against the absolutely resplendent drawing we see in the manga.

There is a theory that a popular series known elsewhere, gained popularity not only because of the excellent, immersive story, but also thanks to the so-called. "Shinkai's clouds", in other words, thanks to unbelievable care for graphics and animation. In case of VK, this aspect has been seriously neglected. Believe or not, but these small details really important and give a lot! I think that if the anime were drawn as fabulously as a manga, with a fluent, refined animation, in combination with the other elements that we already know, it would be something really spectacular, and the reception of the characters and the whole screen adaptation of VK would be even better.

I suppose that person who would make the best analysis of Kaname, would be his “creator”, ie. Matsuri Hino. From my side I tried to do my best to make this analysis as insightful as possible, on the occasion also evaluating the elements of the manga and its adaptation. I hope you enjoyed!

#Kaname Kuran #Vampire Knight #Vampire Knight Memories #Eternal Yume #A word about Kaname

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nyangibun · 7 years ago

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Merry Christmas to all of my Jonsa fam! Here’s a little present for you guys! I hope you enjoy it and thank you for making the past year so fun for me in this fandom. Love you guys!!

Jon has never actually met his neighbour before. She only moved in two months ago, but already, he knows far too much about her than he really needs to.

She has a dog that howls every other night, which sets off Ghost, who howls back, and for five minutes, their two dogs have some kind of 101 Dalmatians Twilight Bark conversation.

She loves to bake because he can smell it every time he comes home after a long shift at the station. This is more annoying than the howling because Jon can’t bake for shit and it’s not like he can go next door and ask her for whatever she’s baking.

She also has a seriously unhealthy relationship with Amazon because he gets a delivery guy knocking on his door looking for her every now and then. That’s how he also knows that her name is Sansa Stark.

He also knows that she’s single and he actually feels guilty for knowing this, but it was hard not to overhear the explosive breakup she had with her ex a couple weeks after she moved in. They were practically screaming at each other and these walls are too fucking thin. He feels bad for her, even considered knocking on her door and asking if she needed anything, but that’s definitely verging on creepy neighbour territory and Jon isn’t exactly the outgoing type. He reassures himself that she’s better off. Her ex sounded like a right prick.

But aside from his sympathy for having to deal with a breakup, Jon dislikes Sansa on principle. Her stupid dog gets his stupid dog too excited; her damn baking makes him crave pastries so much he’s put on several pounds since she moved in because he keeps stopping at pastry shops on the way home; and for god’s sake, he really doesn’t need to be woken up from his mid-afternoon naps to the delivery guy because she still can’t properly remember her address.

As Christmas rolls around, his less than high opinion of her takes a serious nosedive when he realises that Sansa is a huge fan of Christmas carols. At first, it’s innocent. He hears her singing ‘O Come, All Ye Faithful’ in the shower, which is just the weirdest fucking song to be singing in the shower, but he puts it to the back of his mind as he gets dressed to go on another blind date that Sam’s set up for him. It’s when he gets back from said blind date in a very sour mood that he decides he definitively hates her carolling because the last thing anyone wants after accidentally spilling wine down their date’s dress is to hear a very loud rendition of ‘Jingle Bell Rock’.

But it’s Christmas, right? What kind of an asshole would he be if banged against the wall to someone just getting in the Christmas spirit? So Jon does what every twenty-something bachelor does: he drinks a six-pack of beer by himself and passes out in front of the telly.

Or Read More on Ao3

A week of house calls leaves Jon too exhausted to notice if she’s still singing in her flat. He assumes she’s probably gone back home for the holidays, and so Christmas Eve, Jon settles down in front of his telly, a pizza in front of him and another six-pack to get him through this miserable holiday. It’s not as if Jon doesn’t have any offers for the holidays. His dad’s family invited him weeks ago. Sam and Gilly invited him too; even Tormund invited him round to spend it with his new girlfriend; but Jon is determined to be miserable this holiday. So what if Ygritte dumped him in August? Does moping have a time limit? Jon thinks not.

He’s just nodding off when abruptly something draws him back to reality. At first, he’s too drunk and groggy to really realise what woke him up, but then, there it is… Sansa bloody Stark is singing ‘All I Want For Christmas is You’ at – Jon checks the clock on the wall and immediately swears out loud – three in the fucking morning!

What the hell is this girl doing?

Jon swings his legs over the sofa and storms out of his flat to her door, pounding a little forcefully. He doesn’t care if she’s got her entire sodding family over. It’s three in the morning and he really wants to pass out in peace. Is that too much to ask for?

His mental rant peters off when Sansa reaches a high note in the song and completely nails it, begrudgingly earning his respect despite the fact that he’s still pissed as all hell. He makes a note to tell her she sounds good at a later date when he’s not about to scream at her. Jon knocks again, and thankfully, this time she hears him as the music cuts out and her dog starts barking loudly.

He hears the door rattle as she unlocks it, so he decides to get a head start.

“Listen, I don’t care if this makes me the Grinch, but it’s three in the –”

Sansa Stark is quite frankly the most beautiful woman he’s ever laid eyes on and Jon suddenly forgets why he’s there but to stare at the smooth expanse of skin on display, the fiery shine of red hair and that guilt-ridden face with those rosy pink lips.

Jon clears his throat. “It’s three in the morning,” he says with a little less vehemence. “If you and your friends could just keep it down, I’d really appreci –”

“It’s just me,” Sansa cuts in. Her eyes drop down to the floor and her expression immediately melts into something else, something that makes him ache a little to see. “I’m really sorry. I’ll… I should probably just go to sleep anyways.”

“What do you mean it’s only you?” he asks, unable to keep the curiosity at bay. It’s then he glances into her flat and realises it’s empty save for a white and grey Siberian Husky sitting in the corner by the tiny Christmas tree like some kind of Hallmark postcard.

Sansa chuckles softly and shrugs. “I was…” She inhales deeply and looks up to catch his eyes as if steeling herself for whatever she’s about to say. “I was supposed to spend it with my ex, so my family are all in Spain right now for Christmas and it’s just… I guess singing Christmas songs makes me feel a little less lonely.”

Well, fuck… Jon feels like a right tit now and maybe it’s the guilt or maybe it’s because he just really wants to see her smile, but the words are out before he has any idea what he’s just said. “You should come over.”

Sansa blinks, startled, and so he powers through.

“I mean… it’s Christmas now, right? And I’ve got a large pizza I haven’t finished and a bottle of wine someone gave me at work. I can’t promise you I’ll sing with you, but I’m pretty sure our dogs could sing together for us.”

Slowly, tentatively, her lips twitch and before he knows it, Sansa Stark is beaming at him, all toothy and gorgeous and utterly breathtaking, that all he can do is smile dumbly back.

“Okay,” she says. “Okay, let me… I baked cookies so I can bring that. Oh, I have Christmas crackers too! And…” She looks away bashfully. “Sorry, I just really love Christmas.”

He laughs. “You don’t say…”

Sansa giggles, as she goes inside to grab her things, and that’s how five minutes later, Jon finds himself on his sofa beside her, finally tasting one of her cookies and deciding that he definitely wants to marry this girl, if only for the baking alone.

He tells her so, to which she just blushes and giggles. “Thank you, but I think you’ll be rethinking that when you see how crazy my family is.”

Jon grabs another cookie and purposefully bites into it while looking at her. “Worth it.”

“Flirt,” she mumbles and rolls her eyes. Sansa tucks her feet in underneath herself and leans her head against the back of his sofa. “So I have a confession to make…”

Jon swallows and nods. “Go ahead. It’s Christmas after all. Time for confessions.”

“Well,” she fingers the hem of her red cotton dress. “I’ve been purposefully sending my post to you in the hopes that you’d come over.” She looks away and shrugs. “If I’d known all I had to do was sing Christmas songs really badly at three in the morning, I would’ve just done that.”

“I… what?” It’d be an understatement to say that Jon is speechless. He’s completely baffled. “Why?”

“Why do you think?” Sansa glances up, a furrow between her brows. “You’re hot and you’re a firefighter. That’s like every straight girl’s dream.”

Jon’s mouth is suddenly dry as he laughs awkwardly. “Uh… is that why you order so much crap from Amazon?”

Sansa laughs, surprised. “What? No, that’s… You’re going to think I’m such a grandma, but that’s just my knitting supplies. I’ve been making scarves for my family. Oh my god!” She suddenly jumps up from the sofa. “Do you want one?” Before he has a chance to answer, she’s racing out of the room and he hears her door bang open.

He should really be taking this time to mull over what she’d just said, but it’s too surreal for Jon to even fully comprehend. One minute, he’s fuming and raging a full on tirade against his faceless neighbour, and the next, he’s spending Christmas with her drinking wine and eating cookies, chatting about their lives like they’re old friends. How does something like that happen?

“Okay, so it’s just a stupid scarf, but…” She trails off as she comes barging back into his flat and jumping onto his sofa, causing it to dip slightly towards her. Sansa leans forward as she offers the scarf up to him, showing him the detail she put into it. “Here, you have little wolves on it. It was supposed to be of Lady, but it could be Ghost too, you know?”

Jon takes the scarf from her and stares down at the dark grey wool scarf with the little dancing wolves on each end. His throat feels tight and he’s overcome with such a rush of gratitude and affection that he just closes the gap between them and pecks her on the lips without thinking. Jon draws back, wide-eyed and immediately apologetic. “Sorry. I’m so sorry. I wasn’t thinking. This is just the nicest thing anyone’s ever given me. I’m sorry.”

Sansa is silent for a few seconds before she’s suddenly throwing her arms around his neck and pressing her lips insistently against his, practically crawling onto his lap. Jon is not complaining.

“Merry Christmas, Jon,” she murmurs against his lips. “Thanks for making it feel like one again.”

Jon kisses her again after he realises that she tastes far better than her cookies. “Merry Christmas, Sansa.”

Yeah, he’s definitely going to marry this girl one day.

#jonsa #jon x sansa #actuallyjonsa #jonsaff #jonxsansaff #jonsa xmas au #merry crimbo you filthy animals <3 #this is so fluffy #my fics

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bouncyirwin · 7 years ago

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Recent Great Naruto Fics I’ve Read List

Seeing as the actual series now suck... here’s a list of the fics/one shots I’ve recently read (past year) that you might enjoy, have fun xx

Warning: List contains all kinds of pairings. Some stories have no pairings at all (those are labelled as General).

Directions: story name - author - summary - status - pairing/gen - rating

Pulling My Weight by Invisible Shadow - During the mission to Wave, Sakura realises that she has to become a better ninja for her teammates' sake and be someone they can depend on. She vows to take her training seriously, and receives help from the most unlikely of sources; Genma Shiranui. The two form an unlikely bond and stick together through thick and thin, while Sakura improves and meets other people along the way. Ongoing | General so far | T | This story is fucking amazing

A Wrinkle in Time by rightforlife - The Fourth Shinobi War ended in disaster. They won, but at a price too great to bear. Given a second chance, what exactly can Konoha's three most powerful men do? Time travel, old enemies, and old friends that all leads to a new future. Ongoing | General | T

The Colder Water by Quillslinger - The devil is in the details. Shisui. Itachi. A sorta love story. Novella. Complete (52,784) | ShiIta | T

Uneasy Coexistence by DeGlace - One grinning shark–man. One pink–haired medic. Ankles. Teeth. Kisame x Sakura. Yes, you read that right. Complete (70,111) | KisaSaku | M

Blind Stars of Fortune by 100demons - Thirty year old Kakashi was supposed to have been killed by Pein during the Invasion. Instead, he wakes up in the body of his twenty year old self. (It gets a lot more complicated.) Time travel. Complete (78,591) | General | T

To Promise Forever by Hellsig Otoupeim - The war's over, Kaguya has been defeated and the five great Shinobi Nations have gone back to their homelands to nurse the wounds left behind. In an attempt to preserve peace, the five Kage have agreed to implement in a new measure; war veterans between villages are encouraged to take part in the Five Nation Letter Exchange Program. Or how a girl from Kiri ends up in Konoha. Sly AU. Complete (14,442) | ShikakuOC | M

Heart Under a Blade by fineillsignup - Sitting on a bench after being told by Sasuke-kun that she's annoying, Sakura thinks that it's the worst day of her life. Lying in the hospital wanting to hurl from heat suppressants later that day and grappling with the revelation that she's an omega, Sakura knows that it's the worst day of her life. (ABO, extremely slow build). Ongoing | KakaSaku | M

Phantom Pains by mapplepie - There is something going on with Kakashi, but Minato can't figure out what. All he has are distressing deductions, each one progressively worse than the last. It's no wonder Minato can't help but fear and fear and fear. (To be fair though, it really wasn't his fault he never considered the possibility of time-travel). Complete (22,153) | General | T

A Twist in Time by Wolf08 - With Konoha on the verge of destruction, Sakura is sent on a last-resort mission to save her world by travelling to the past. Join her in coping with her old body's shortcomings, testing the natural laws of time, falling in love all over again, exploring the depths of her mind and rediscovering who she is. Time-travel. Ongoing | SasuSaku | T | I don’t even like SS anymore (I almost hate them) but this is my favourite fic ever.

Deadly Decisions by Alrissa - Haruno Sakura that actually caught a glimpse of the real world and woke up to smell the blood. Basically a 'what if' preview of what could have happened if Sakura didn't revert after the Chuunin exams. No princess to be rescued here. Complete (17,819) | General | M

Contagious by rabid behemoth - Konoha's citizens are being controlled by a virus, and it falls on Sakura's shoulders to save them. A double agent among the most hostile, unrepentant criminals in the world, she finds herself navigating between competing loyalties in a sea of moral uncertainty. But that's impossible for a faithful Leaf nin like Sakura. Loyalties aren't contagious...right? Complete (119,552) | ItaSaku | T

The Lives Worth Saving by cywsaphyre - Naruto, at 26, has lived through 10 years of war. At the end, with nothing left to call home, he sends himself back to the beginning, to the day of his younger self's graduation, in an attempt to change it all. Time travel AU. Discontinued | General | T | best time travel fic I’ve ever read

Kill Your Heroes by Evil Is A Relative Term - Because, sometimes, we are what our adversaries make of us. Because Gatō only needed Zabuza to neutralize Kakashi. He isn't afraid of one little pink-haired genin. But even mice will bite when cornered. A story of where fear drives the most vulnerable member of Team Seven, from Wave and beyond. Ongoing | General | T

I Found You Missing by Wolfy Tales - 'They're asking us because these soldiers have absolutely no one left to write home to,' Sakura thought with a frown. So she signs up for the Shinobi Letter Exchange, not realizing how large the consequences would be. Complete (18,586) | KakaSaku | T

Teach Your Children Well by AvocadoLove - After Madara final attack on the village, Rokudaime Kakashi uncovers a time-travel scroll. Now he's Team Seven's sensei again. And this time, he's going to do things differently. A time travel fic. Complete (37,849) | KakaIru | K+

The Arrangement by Yuugiri - "We're already getting along bad enough. Why don't we just get married?" Complete (111,453) | GaaIno | T

Sabotage by therealesther - When her fifth date got food poisoning, and her sixth date cancelled in over the phone in a tone bordering on hysteria, Sakura decided things were getting out of hand. Complete (1,637) | KakaSaku | K+

To Love and to Love Again by animequeen100 - Love blooms even in the strangest of places, and darkest of hours. Sasuke has a daughter who needs a mother. Sakura has a son, who needs a father. When the shadows that follow her threaten to take her away from him, his dark secrets resurface to keep her in his arms. They were fated to love and destined to love again. Complete (401,061) | SasuSaku | M

The Good Wife by ReiraKurenai - Sixteen-year-old Ino is stuck in the body of her older self. Now she must embark on the journey of an adult, a wife and a mother while deep down she's still just a child herself. What does the future have in store for her? NarutoxIno and various pairings. Ongoing | NaruIno | T

Ripples by Yellow Mask - AU from 309 onwards. Following a botched mission, Sakura is made a slave by Sound, a position that could very well alter the future…especially concerning a certain familiar missing-nin. Complete (143,883) | SasuSaku | T

Set in Ink by TappityTap - "From then on, it became their own private ritual: She'd arrive at his place, they'd talk, she'd undress, he'd draw her, she'd look at his work and compliment it, he'd touch her until she quivered and cried out his name in a sweet burst of release. This ritual was always the same but somehow different and exciting every time. " Pure SaiIno smut. Some canon pairings mentioned. Complete (7,422) | SaiIno | M

The Cursed Geisha by wingedmercury - He's beautiful, in the same way that predatory animals are beautiful—dark, mysterious. Dangerous. Only this time, instead of being the predator, Sasuke will learn what it means to be prey. AU. Complete (43,612) | SasuHina | M

Will of Fire by Cynchick - Forced to flee their village and the new regime, the loyal shinobi of Konoha must find a way to preserve their way of life and take back their home. As they fight for their future, Team Seven struggles to overcome the past. Complete (223,234) | KakaSaku | M

The Secret Life of Teachers by tabine - Romance is a bit difficult to do when you spend a majority of your time within fifty feet of the object of your affections and somehow still don't quite understand that you're falling in love with them, if only because being a full-time high school teacher while taking graduate school courses takes precedence over everything else. A Nejiten high school teachers AU. Ongoing | NejiTen | T

The Line by livezinshadowz - When a young Ino tries to use the Shintenshin for the first time on Naruto, something goes wrong and the two find themselves temporarily stuck in the other's body. A series of moments depicting the evolution of their relationship, from acquaintances to friends to something more, all by crossing that metaphorical line created when a boy and a girl forge a bond. Complete (46,692) | NaruIno | T

In Another Life by CelestialCircumference - Kakashi never believed in soul mates until that fateful day. Written for HatakeFran for the KakaSaku Secret Santa 2016 on tumblr. Complete (18,350) | KakaSaku | T

House of Crows by SilverShine - War is coming to Konoha and Sakura is far from home, uncertain of her future. But one thing is for sure, Sakura will protect her unborn child at all costs, whether it be from Konoha's enemies... or from its own father. Complete (400,508) | KakaSaku | M

Better Off Dead by wingedmercury - When Hinata leaves Konoha, heartbroken but resolute, the last person she expects to see over the rim of her tea cup is him. "You look like you've just seen a ghost," he smirks, and Hinata thinks that some people are just better off dead. Complete (68,768) | SasuHina | T

The Song Of Kakashi by ZatannaZatara06 - If you want forever, you are going to have to suffer for it. For the KakaSaku Week 2016 Day 2 Theme: Fairy tales / Legends Myth: The story of Achilles and Patroclus. Complete (2,472) | KakaSaku | T

Kunoichi's Burden: Village First by lilac haze - She was dying. She should have died. She was supposed to die but the Gods had other plans. Sakura is thrown back in the past, where a dangerously attractive blonde and a loud mouthed redhead have taken it upon themselves to make her life even more difficult. If Naruto's parents didn't get together, kami, she would be in a lot of trouble. MinatoXSakura. Time travel-fic. Complete (378,854) | MinaSaku | T

On a Leash by thekatthatbarks - Kakashi's new puppy ends up being his best wingman. Complete (1,082) | KakaSaku | T

House Calls by Spoiled Sweet - Always the Team Mom, Sakura opens up her home as a clinic for the hospital-phobic ninja of Konoha. At the same time, her relationship with Kakashi begins to evolve in a way she never expected. Complete (262,803) | KakaSaku | M

Things You Just Don’t Talk About by Enodia - "Do you enjoy sex?" Shikamaru asked bluntly. I just can't believe I'm talking about this, and with Shikamaru, of all people, Sakura thought." Sakura is in for a surprise. Or, rather, a series of surprises. Complete (118,175) | ShikaSaku | M

Players by Kukaburraxxii - Ino joins the league of players. Discontinued | GenIno | M

Heatwave by Yahboobeh - When she found her breath again it was ragged. Only one thought tore through her mind: Consume me. The Suna sun wasn't the only reason their faces burned. Ongoing | NejiTen | M

The Art of War by leafygirl - Entry for the LJ Kakasaku AU contest. Sakura gets stuck following her teacher after a bet with her friends. But his mysterious life is nothing she ever expected. Complete (20,591) | KakaSaku | T

The Shinobi Princess by Winged Lady Colette - At the end of the Fourth Great Ninja War, Sakura takes an unexpected trip into the time of Konoha's Founding. Ongoing | HashiSaku | M

Dawning by deleria - After years of silence the Akatsuki are active again. Her allies uncertain, the Godaime sends two teams - one for a potential offensive strike and another for covert surveillance. Who would have guessed that Shikamaru and Sakura could fake it as newlyweds so well? ShikaSaku with early (one-sided) hints of SasuSaku. Complete (101,994) | ShikaSaku | M

Genius Sensei by AlexDnD - What if Kakashi had recovered from his deep depression? What if he turned out to be a true genius as a sensei? Watch as team 7 develops into a truly capable shinobi team! Complete | NaruSaku-ish | T | A fun read

We Are Never (ever getting back together) by natanije - In which Sakura waited, got tired of waiting, and decided to never wait ever again. (Or, in which Sakura never chased after Sasuke when she got pregnant). Complete (2,592) | General | T

A Poor Imitation by leafygirl - Sakura is injured on a mission, forgetting everything she knew of life in Konoha. Complete (88,913) | KakaSaku | M

The Girl From Whirlpool by SilverShine - When Naruto's father met his mother, his only impression was that a village out there must have been missing its idiot. Complete (248,299) | MinaKushi | T

The Way of the Wind by just enough - ANBU Captain Uchiha Itachi had things well planned out, until a medic-nin with ridiculous hair went and made herself interesting. Sakura insisted she was just doing her job, but Itachi didn't quite see it that way. Non-massacre. Complete (158,542) | ItaSaku | M

Cause for Conversation by firefly - Hinata has always been intimidated by Sasuke, but when she serves as a substitute for Sakura on a mission, she comes to learn that the stoic Uchiha is not so bad after all. Complete (4,858) | SasuHina | K+

The Price by Nenagh24 - This would have almost been hilarious, the renowned copy ANBU almost petrified of a small unarmed girl, had it not been happening to him. The price of this tiny bride was going to break him. Hello, fiery flames of eternal doom. Complete (19,067) | KakaSaku | T

Better Having Met You by KakashiSauce - Tenzou is wide-eyed, bright faced and unprepared for the ANBU life ahead of him. MOSTLY because of the unorthodox team he's placed into. However, it was done in his best interest, and Hiruzen is smart enough to know what is best for most young shinobi. Kakashi disagrees, but he is one of those young shinobi who doesn't know whats best for him. Ongoing | KakaYama | M

Icha Icha Gambit by TheSilverScarecrow - It was a risk; one that could potentially ruin their team, however, who was Hatake Kakashi to argue with the Hokage? But when a never to be finished Icha Icha draft falls into his possesion things start getting wildly out of hand as Sakura does whatever it takes to protect their village from a devastating weapon. Ongoing | KakaSaku | M

Nutrire by Wolfy Tales - As Ino traverses the world with Yamato after the war to neutralize potential threats, she finds out that they share more in common than just an interest in plants. Complete (32,251) | YamaIno | T

Let's Get Married by luvtoshi - It was supposed to be a simple solution to their immediate problems. But maybe they took more than they can chew? Complete (59,760) | NaruSaku | M

Hot Medicine by Saphri - Kakasaku one-shot. AU. Fighting fires was a tough job by all accounts. But when the job requires getting treated by beautiful pink haired paramedics it was worth the hardship. Complete (26,05) | KakaSaku | M

A Noble in Secret by WhiteMint - Side story to the Imperial Princess. C originally hated the people of Konoha, often referring to them as "Konoha dogs". But as he got to know the small pink haired girl who followed him around like a puppy, he no longer considered the term as maliciously as before. After all, he found his own little Konoha dog, and he planned on keeping her. Ancient Chinese AU. Complete (4,420) | CSaku | K+

Cherry Blossom Flames by Winged Lady Colette - A seven year old amnesiac awoke in a stream, being rescued by two brothers. Ongoing | MadaSaku | M

Adaline by Nikki1212 - I would choose you in a hundred lifetimes, in a hundred worlds, in any version of reality, I would find you and I would choose you. AU. Ongoing | KakaSaku | T

Tempest by cywsaphyre - Back in time and armed with years of future knowledge, Sakura is ready to take the world by storm. Except... she's four again, not twelve. Ah well, nobody said she couldn't start a little early. Gen, time travel, AU, Sakuracentric. Discontinued | General | T

All This Time by thekatthatbarks - "I may not have fell like you did. I didn't fall gradually and slow over the span of twenty years. It was fast and sudden. It had me stumbling looking around trying to figure out where I was. I didn't even know it had happened." Complete (2,472) | ShikaSaku | K+

Team 8 by S’TarKan - What if Naruto had been selected for a different team? What if he'd had a different mentor? Who would guess the consequences would be so large? Ongoing | NaruHina | T | I don’t even like NaruHina anymore but this story is amazing (plot-oriented)

Better Man by Kakashisgf - Sakura and Sasuke have been married for over a decade, but things are far from perfect, and Sakura's beginning to realize that maybe she deserves better. Complete (179,759) | KakaSaku | M

Dirty Laundry by Slinkymilinky - Sakura had never been a fan of airing her dirty laundry in public…but Kakashi was often the exception to the rule. Lemony Oneshot. Complete (6,593) | KakaSaku | M

Time and Again by KyLewin - Time Travel fic. In a war torn future, in the burning ruins of Konohagakure, Naruto fights Orochimaru and loses as the world collapses around him. From that ending comes a new beginning and a new chance to set things right, if only he can figure out how.. Complete (456,787) | General | T

The Samurai and the Oni Girl by Silberias - AU KakaSaku set in Edo-period Japan. Sakura is the descendant of a red-haired foreigner as well as a merchant's daughter. Kakashi is a local samurai who has fallen on hard times, a man whose pride has been broken down to this point. Love comes after. Complete (131,644) | KakaSaku | T

Chippendales by Voyna - [AU] Sometimes, a girl needs a lap-dance to put life into perspective. Complete (15,645) | SasuHina | M

Once More, With Feeling by JinnySkeans - Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time. Complete (127,462) | SasuSaku | M

In Case of Blue Scroll by Leola Majora - In Case of Blue Scroll the Hokage must lock himself in his office and pull his hair out as what he thought were memories of a long lost love turn out to be the memories of a mission he was about to assign his former student, Sakura Haruno. Complete (48,635) | KakaSaku | M

[I’ll update this again soon!]

#naruto #fan fiction #multisaku #multirate #multipair

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